Owner: HWMC

Catalog#: 2AF-AERV-02

 

Reedpipes

Tunisia ‘Mizwad’

Tunisia
Tunisians

Bamboo, cow horns, leather, hide rope, wood
Mid-20th Century 
Total length: 29 in; Blowpipe length: 6 in; Chanter length: 7.25 in
Aerophones – Wind Instruments Proper – Reedpipes

The name mizwad (mezoued, mizwid) is Tunisian Arabic meaning sack, bag, or food bag and is a type of bagpipe played in Tunisia. This instrument consists of a skin bag made from ewe’s (sheep) leather that serves as a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag; a blow pipe, and a joined double-chanter with a fixed reed at the top and finger holes terminating in two cow horns.

Mizwad is also the name of a popular type of traditional music in Tunisia, which includes the mizwad instrument along with a Tunisian drum called darbouka.  This music was originally considered the music of the countryside and the working class. It is often played at weddings and formal parties and is said to sometimes make people enter a trance-like state.

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