THABIT ABD AL REHEEM ABASS
Thabit Abd El Reheem Abass was born and used to live in the Nubian area of Sudan. He studied theater and music at the University of Sudan, and he is now a musicologist and a musician: he plays piano as well as a traditional instrument called semsemya. Ten years ago, the Aga Khan Music Initiative center invited Thabit to come and live in Aswan, Egypt, to teach new generations how to play this instrument, how to make it and how to sing along with it.
INTERVIEW – december 2021
Can you tell us about the tanbora?
When I was ten, the elders taught me traditional music, and how to make the tanbora from natural materials. As you can see, it is made from cow leather and 100-years-old wood. Nubians used to eat in plates made from this wood, but now people only use glass plates. Only artists keep using it to make their instruments: it is used to make the resonance box. Everything in this instrument is made from natural material: the strings are from sheep wool, and the fabric is used to tighten or loosen the strings to tune them.
This instrument has a unique scale: this is the reason why on mine, I added some guitar keys, to tune it and change notes easily. I also electrified it. With these changes, I can play traditional music, but I can also change the scale to play and sing with other instruments.
The tanbora is pentatonic: it has five notes. You will ask me: how can you sing with only five notes? Well, in all Africa, Latin America and China, traditional music is played with only a five-notes scale! In Egypt, this five-notes scale is called Oriental Takht: it is different than the one used in the rest of the Arab world, and of the world in general. In Arabic, the pentatonic scale used in China and India is called the Doff.
This instrument is one of the oldest string instruments: before its creation, music was only played with percussions. To add to the music, our ancestors created the tanbora, from what they were able to find in nature.
The tanbora originates from a region of Nubia. Nowadays, you can also find it in cities like Port Saïd or Suez, but with a different tuning system. Very few people in Egypt know how to play it and how to sing along with it, but I am the only one who studied it and who knows how to properly play and sing with the semsemya. In Sudan however, a lot of people know how to properly play it. Many tribes in Nubia use it, and each one developed their own music style. For example, the Halfas sing along, but the Mahs and the Dongolas clap their hands along.
The singer can sing along the tanbora using notes that are not played by the instrument. Therefore, to sing with a pentatonic instrument, you need a certain talent, and you have to learn. You can also play semsemya and sing with rhythms that are not Nubian: you can play it with any rhythm!
Is traditional Nubian music endangered?
Yes, it is actually threatened to become extinct. New generations listen to and play new music. Tanbora has become rare.
When I teach, I challenge my students. I show them how to hold the semsemya and how to sing along.
The tanbora is part of our identity. Not like the oud for exemple, which is a popular instrument: it is Arab but not Nubian. Even though people sing Nubian songs with the oud, it doesn’t make it a Nubian instrument. The tanbora has been part of Nubian culture for a very long time. We inherited it and I try to transmit it to new generations. Youth should have an interest in their heritage. Unfortunately, there is no conservation or teaching program led by the government or by any association.
However, a lot of people would like to learn to play tanbora: but to do so, you have to make your own instrument, you can’t buy it. This often discourages students. That’s also the reason why I made my instrument using the easier guitar tuning system. I don’t think one should play tanbora only for traditional music: you can make it evolve.
What is tanbora music to you?
I have been playing semsemya all my life. I became a professional musician 40 years ago. I studied piano, music history, and I specialized in Nubian music and songs. Nubian songs tell everything that happen in our lives, our problems, etc. That is our only actual mean of expression.
These songs talk about our love stories, but also political, economical and cultural problems. Therefore, governments don’t like it. In Sudan, I had issues with the government: that’s the reason why I left, ten years ago. I was singing to raise awareness about people’s problems, the Earth, and Nubia; I was singing to oppose population displacements, and to make people’s suffering known.
This is the role of an artist, and art is the Human language.
Do you have a message that you would like to share?
Sudanese Nubia opens wide its doors to all those who are interested in our culture and our music: you are welcome here!