Itelmen Kovran Tigil plate-on-string aerophone

хэзвэз / к’эл-к’эл

Source term: rotating aerophone / plate on a string

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).

Etymology. Source glosses к'эл-к'эл as Tigil Itelmen вертушка, spinner or whirligig.

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.

Вращаемый аэрофон (пластина на веревке) у ковранцев обозначается термином хэзвэз (жужжалка), у тигильцев – к'эл-к'эл (вертушка)…

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…

Arctic Megapedia, 'Музыка ительменов' (2020)

Particulars

Object

A plate on a cord, rotated to sound; Kovran term хэзвэз, Tigil term к’эл-к’эл.

Function

Not recorded.