Me'em Tangek[]
Traditional Tangek attached to the surrounding trees
The Me'em Tangek (Melodic log) is a tribal instrument used for ceremonic purposes of the Na'Rings on Nysdra.
Its an about 2 meters long, hollow tree trunk attached to the surrounding trees by ropes. It can be played by up to two Na'ring clan members and is often used for rythm and background music at ceremonic dances.
Usage[]
The Tangek is usually used on tribal ceremonies like the initial ceremony of the Na'rings.
It also finds usage on meetings of different clans and for war purposes.
Some tribes are using the instrument for communication between different clans, because of their loudness. Different intervals and tones can transmit warnings (war for example) or whole messages between clan members.
Playing and tuning techniques[]
Tuning[]
If a tribe is big enough to have more than one Tangek, they often tune them in different chords to create a big bandwith of different tones and rythms which brings way more possibilities to the songs that can be played.
The drums are usually tuned with sand or dirt that is filled into the log through holes on the top.
Playing techniques[]
There are many different playing techniques. Here are a few examples:
Slow-Stroke[]
Slow and hard strokes with quite heavy sticks. Usually played by one person for a base rythm.
Fast-Stroke[]
Faster and lighter strokes and lighter sticks to get a fast and flexible extension to the base rythm. Can be played by one or two clan members.
Melodic-Stroke[]
Played with more than 3 different drums with one player each. Each player uses a different variety of drum sticks for playing fast or slow rythms. Technique is played together with the other melodic players to get more chords into the song.
Origins[]
The Tangek come from the time of the big wars almost uncountable years ago. In that time skin for drums was really rare and the Na'rings needed an alternative material for their tribal instruments. They began to experiment with what the nature gave them, hollow logs for example. They recognized that they could make melodic and cheap instruments out of them and so the drums developed.
Today, their spiritual meaning shall remind the Na'rings everytime on the war time and the huge sacrifices they had to give in that time so it prevented another period of war so-to speak.
Their almost complete naturally origin supports the religion of the Na'rings and their strong connection to the nature.