{"id":"RUSIN-003","label":"Itelmen Kovran Tigil plate-on-string aerophone","people_or_site":"Itelmen / Kamchadal / Kovran-Tigil","country_current":"Russia","historic_region":"Western Kamchatka / Kovran and Tigil","macroregion":"Siberia / Kamchatka","local_name":"хэзвэз / к’эл-к’эл","source_term":"rotating aerophone / plate on a string","source_language":"Russian","object_description":"A plate on a cord, rotated to sound; Kovran term хэзвэз, Tigil term к’эл-к’эл.","function_summary":"Not recorded.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"ARCTIC_MEGAPEDIA_ITELMEN_HEZVEZ_KELKEL","source_type":"encyclopedia_summary","source_url":"https://arctic-megapedia.com/blog/2020/11/27/muzyka-itelmenov/","page_or_plate":"in; RSL record 01008198274 separately catalogs Itelmen kель-келе performance","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Kovran village anchor for the Kovran term; the source also gives the Tigil term, so this is a western Kamchatka regional anchor.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Among the Itelmen of western Kamchatka, a plate hung on a cord was whirled to make sound — хэзвэз, 'buzzer,' in the village of Kovran; к'эл-к'эл, 'spinner,' at Tigil. It belonged to a whole family of Itelmen whirring instruments: a wooden propeller-bladed roarer turned at the autumn 'cleansing of sins' festival, a spinning toy of reindeer bone made for children. The plate-on-a-cord kept its own counsel; its nearest kin, a spinning wheel-ratchet, could stand in for the shaman's drum.","pull_quote":"Вращаемый аэрофон (пластина на веревке) у ковранцев обозначается термином хэзвэз (жужжалка), у тигильцев – к'эл-к'эл (вертушка)…","pull_quote_translation":"The rotating aerophone — a plate on a cord — is called khezvez ('buzzer') among the Kovran people, and k'el-k'el ('whirligig') among the Tigil people…","pull_quote_cite":"Arctic Megapedia, 'Музыка ительменов' (2020)","term_gloss":"хэзвэз (khezvez) = Kovran-dialect Itelmen for the whirled plate-on-string aerophone, glossed \"жужжалка\" (buzzer); к'эл-к'эл = Tigil-dialect term for the same, glossed \"вертушка\" (spinner), and close kin to the spinning wheel-ratchet that \"заменяла бубен\" (stood in for the drum). Distinct from the propeller-bladed vortex aerophone кыжиам (Kamchadal) / кэхэм (Kovran) / талитал (Tigil), which was whirled at the autumn \"очищение грехов\" festival (the Alkhalalalai), and from the reindeer-bone toy тэн-к'эл (Kovran) / гыр-гэр (Tigil).","cls":"unknown","class_label":"Function not recorded","color":"#6B7884","is_candidate":false,"flags":[],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"etymology":"Source glosses к'эл-к'эл as Tigil Itelmen вертушка, spinner or whirligig.","literal_gloss":"spinner / whirligig","semantic_cluster":"spinning; sound_tool","etymology_confidence":"high","sources":[{"citation":"Arctic Megapedia, “Музыка ительменов” (2020)","url":"https://arctic-megapedia.com/blog/2020/11/27/muzyka-itelmenov/","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20251209233244/https://arctic-megapedia.com/blog/2020/11/27/muzyka-itelmenov/"},{"citation":"Russian State Library, record 01008198274, Itelmen kель-келе performance"}],"source_citations":"Arctic Megapedia, “Музыка ительменов” (2020); Russian State Library, record 01008198274, Itelmen kель-келе performance","source_display":"Arctic Megapedia, “Музыка ительменов” (2020); Russian State Library, record 01008198274, Itelmen kель-келе performance","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A plate on a cord, rotated to sound; Kovran term хэзвэз, Tigil term к’эл-к’эл.","function_display":"Not recorded.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"itelmen","display_name":"Itelmen Kovran Tigil plate-on-string aerophone","image":{"full":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/sheikin2019_chukchi_vyutkunen_fig4.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/expansion_2026_07/sheikin2019_chukchi_vyutkunen_fig4_thumb.jpg","alt":"Chukchi vyutkunen drawing: a feather-form blade with slanting marks along its edges and a looping cord joining it to a smaller narrow piece.","credit":"Sheikin, Dobzhanskaya & Ignateva, \"Звуковые орудия и музыкальные инструменты чукчей\", Традиционная культура 20:4 (2019), fig. 4","license":"In copyright — open-access journal figure, rehosted low-res for non-commercial research","source_page":"https://trad-culture.ru/","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"The Chukchi vyutkunen (выюткунэнг)."},"slug":"rusin-003-itelmen-kamchadal-kovran-tigil"}