Owner: HWMC
Catalog#: 2ME-IDST-06

Struck idiophones

Turkey 'Crescent'

Turkey
Turkish Military Janissary Band

Metal, horsehair
19th century
Height: 53 in; Width: 30.5 in; Depth: 12 in
Idiophones – Struck Idiophones

The Turkish Crescent also called Jingling Johnny, is a musical instrument consisting of a pole ornamented with a canopy (pavilion), a crescent, and other shapes hung with bells and metal jingling objects.  It possibly originated as the staff of a Central Asian shaman and became part of the Turkish military Janissary band that stimulated the late 18th-century European vogue for Turkish music. The Janissaries were an elite corps of royal bodyguards (disbanded in 1826), who lead the parades.  The Muslim crescent and plumes (usually of horsetail) are emblems of the battlefield.  The Turkish Crescent (Jingling Johnny) was used in European military bands in the 19th century and survives, somewhat altered, in Germany, where they are called schellenbaum.

This Turkish Crescent has a long pole with a canopy at the top adorned with both a crescent moon pointing upward and a star, the internationally recognized symbol of Islam.  The canopy is also decorated with a row of 16 hanging bells.  Immediately below the top canopy is an inverted canopy.  Underneath the canopies is a large double crescent with two rows of 14 hanging bells.  Attached to the ends of this double crescent are two larger bells with colored horsetail tassels.  The instrument is played by shaking it up and down and in a twisting motion to produce the jingling sounds.  

References: https://www.britannica.com/art/Janissary-music ;  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501458

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