Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nfīr.

See Nafīr.

Ngoma [engoma, goma, gomo, ingoma, iÃgoma, ng'oma, ngomba, ngomm, ngomo etc.].

A common term (with many variants) used generically for many kinds of drum among the numerous Bantu-speaking peoples of central, eastern-central and southern Africa. However, ‘ngoma’ often has a wider meaning, at its widest standing for music and dancing (and the associated feasting), and for ceremonies in which drumming occurs. Because of its use as a general name for drums of various shapes and sizes it often appears in the catalogues of instrument collections (e.g. Boone, 1951).

Among different peoples ngoma can variously denote a dance, a drum ensemble, the most important drum of an ensemble, or individual drums. Use of the name is sometimes indicative that drums have special sacred or magical properties. Ngoma dza midzimu (‘drums of the ancestor spirits’) is the term used by the Venda of the Transvaal for spirit possession dances; the bass drum in the accompanying ensemble, a large hemispherical drum with a single head, resembling the two drums with which it is played, is itself called ngoma. Common nomenclature also includes ngoma in compound forms, for example, ngoma ya shina.

Ngoma drums may also be associated with royal power, as was frequently the case, for example, among the kingdom states of central Africa. Among the drum ensembles of Rwanda and Burundi, those usually cited as iÃgoma were formerly played only for the rulers (Tutsi). They consisted of sets of up to nine laced drums of the Uganda drum type beaten with drumsticks, struck with awesome power and precision to the accompaniment of praise verses. As in many other cases, each drum in the ensemble had its own pitch and special name. In Burundi the ensemble was even larger, up to 25 drums (with single pegged heads) being used in a single set. This ensemble formerly performed only at the court at the behest of the king but like the Rwanda set is now played generally at festive occasions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

P.R. Kirby: The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (London, 1934, 2/1965)

O. Boone: Les tambours du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi (Tervuren, 1951)

F.J. de Hen: Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Musikinstrumente aus Belgisch Kongo und Ruanda-Urundi (Tervuren, 1960)

H. Tracey: Catalogue of the Sound of Africa Series, ii (Roodepoort, 1973)

M. Vuylstèke: ‘Musique du Burundi’, OCR 40 [disc notes]

PETER COOKE

Nguni music.

See South africa, §I, 1.

Nguyen Thuyet Phong [Nguyen, Phong]

(b Tam Ngai, Vietnam, 9 Aug 1946). Vietnamese performer of traditional music and ethnomusicologist. He began studying music at the age of 5 with his father, followed by formal instruction with master musician Tram van Kien [Muoi Kien] at the age of 10. Eventually he excelled in music for festivals and rituals, chamber and theatrical styles and Buddist chant, widely performing both vocally and instrumentally. He first studied Western music after moving to Saigon but earned the Baccalaureate degree in Vietnamese literature and philosophy at the University of Saigon. After teaching literature, he became principal of a high school (1970–74), adding music to the curriculum, which was then considered an innovation. After spending 1974–5 in Japan, he emigrated to Paris where he earned the PhD in Ethnomusicology at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), writing a prize-winning dissertation on Vietnamese Buddhist chant under Edith Weber and Trân Van Khê. After being appointed to the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), he began working in the USA in 1983, eventually becoming a citizen. He has held positions at UCLA, the University of Washington, the University of Pittsburgh and Kent State University. Both his performance activities and research have continued with grants from the Social Science Research Council, the Asian Cultural Council, Earthwatch and the National Endowment for the Arts, which awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship in 1997. In 1990, along with Terry E. Miller, he founded the International Association for Research in Vietnamese Music and during the 1990s he conducted comprehensive fieldwork throughout Vietnam, the first person to do so after the end of the war. Nguyen performs internationally and publishes research in both English and Vietnamese. As a professional performer of traditional music and song, he brings to his writing an insider's knowledge, especially with regard to Vietnam's complex modal system. Following the retirement of Trân Voun Khê, Nguyan has become the leading authority on and exponent of Vietnamese music.

WRITINGS

‘Restructuring the Fixed Pitches of the Vietnamese dan nguyet Lute: a Modification Necessitated by the Modal System’, The Vietnam Forum, xi (1988), 172–90

Goi am thanh Viet Nam [The world of Vietnamese music] (San Jose, CA, 1989)

with P.S. Campbell: From Rice Paddies and Temple Yards: Traditional Music of Vietnam (Danbury, CT, 1990)

Textes et chants liturgiques bouddhiques vietnamiens en France (Kent, OH, 1990)

ed.: New Perspectives on Vietnamese Music (New Haven, CT, 1991)

‘Music in Ho Chi Minh City and Southern Vietnam’, Nhac Viêt, i/1 (1992), 21–42

‘Pre-Twentieth Century Chinese Music Scholarship in Vietnam: Two Approaches’, Nhac Viêt, i/2 (1992), 61–74

‘Text, Context and Performance: a Case Study of the Vietnamese Buddhist Liturgy’, Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, ix (1992), 225–32

‘Searching for Roots and Facts: a Field Report from Northern Vietnam’, Nhac Viêt, ii/1 (1993), 43–64

with T.E. Miller: ‘Searching for Roots and Facts: a Field Report from Vietnam’, Nhac Viêt, ii/2 (1993), 7–92

with P.S. Campbell and A. Reyes Schramm: Searching for a Niche: Vietnamese Music at Home in America (Kent, OH, 1995)

‘Viemam’, GEWM, iv: Southeast Asia (New York, 1998), 444–517

RECORDINGS

Traditional Instrumental and Vocal Music of Vietnam: Dr. Nguyen Thuyet Phong in Discussion and Performance, Centre for the Study of World Musics videotape (Kent, OH, 1988)

Music of Vietnam, perf. Phong Nguyen Ensemble, World Music Institute WMI-008 (1989)

Eternal Voices: Traditional Vietnamese Music in the United States, coll. Phong Thuyet Nguyen and T.E. Miller, New Alliance Records NAR CD 053 (1993)

Song of the Banyan, perf. Phong Nguyen Ensemble, Latitudes Music of the World LAT50607 (1997)

TERRY E. MILLER