Magrouna The Arab and Mediterranean Center Tunisia

In my seven years of music experience, I had never been in contact with any musical style other than Western music. Recently, I travelled to Tunisia, on exchange, with other music students. In addition to discovering a wonderful country, I came into contact for the first time with Arab music. Our two musical heritages not only have different styles, they also possess a wide range of different musical instruments. During a visit to the Arab and Mediterranean Music Centre, one instrument particularly drew my attention, the magrouna (shawm). The magrouna is only 26 centimetres long and is easy to carry because it is small just like the harmonica used so much in Canadian folk music. The magrouna is made of two pipes placed side by side that end in cattle horns. In fact, the relationship of these two pipes gives the instrument its name because in Arabic "megrouner" means "to put together". There are five symmetrical finger holes on each of the pipes. The magrouna is also decorated with a pendant that has a very special origin, said to be inspired by its twin found on the zokra or zurna (folk shawm). The pendant for this instrument is used to hold the rings that are used to raise or lower the instrument's reeds.

The origin of the magrouna is believed to date back to regions where reeds were to be found during the Phoenician period. At the beginning, one person played two reeds at the same time. This instrument was called the shawm. Then, the reeds were tied together with lacing. The mezouej began to take shape (double chanter bagpipes). It is interesting to note that the word "mezdaouj" means double. Each reed cane has a function. One plays the melody and the other the drone (continuous sound).

Finally, two cattle horns were added to the reeds and five finger holes were added to the drone. This is when the magrouna appeared. This instrument requires a lot of breath and so a goat skin was added creating an air sac which made the instrument easier to play. This object was called the "mezued". The magrouna is built of raw materials and was thus used by the Bedouin for their evening parties and for entertainment, much like we use the harmonica in Canada. We can see that both instruments had similar uses from several points of view. Despite the gap between our two cultures, both our peoples have a lot of ingenuity and the desire to develop practical instruments.