Kisgo Manzanal bird-call zumbador

Source term: zumbador

zumbador: Spanish, 'hummer' or 'buzzer'; the game took the name because it imitates the songs of birds.

At Manzanal, Kisgo elders remembered the zumbador as a childhood voice that imitated local birds. A thin sliver of resonant wood carried one knotted cord, and its pitch shifted with speed, weight, hole size, and cord length. In 2005, children made the remembered instrument again and competed to send it singing around them.

A esta astilla se hace un agujero ... el juego consiste en tomar la pita y mover en forma circular la astilla.

A hole is made in the sliver; the game consists of taking the cord and moving the sliver in a circle.

Fonseca Camacho and Torres 2005:111

Particulars

Object

Thin wooden slat with one end hole and one knotted cord, moved in a circle; pitch varies with speed, wood weight, hole diameter, and cord length.

Function

Elders remembered it as a childhood game imitating local bird calls; the 2005 recovery project rebuilt it and children competed in making and sounding it.