I searched high and low while we were there for some small instrument I could bring home as a special treasure and ended up bringing home 9 plate sized gongs... and they do get played now and again, especially by some young boys of mine.
What I learned from the trip though, is that the "authentic" instruments from villages in Borneo are not the ornate and beautiful carved gems that many of us might see in an import store down Specialty Lane in Super-Hipsterville, CA but are put together from the most basic materials that scavenged from the nearest renovation project.
For instance-- The instrument I am playing in this photograph is largely old wood floor boards which have been sized so that they make different sounds. These are tacked onto old plywood with what looked to be shoe tacks, and the blocks themselves rest on rubber cut from the soles of old flip-flop sandals. A couple Balsa-wood sticks from the forest and some paint and you've got yourself a pretty ingenious indigenous instrument.
Since that trip I have been longing to create my own unique instruments, and I have finally found the resources I needed to do so.
It started with some empty Pringles cans which I collected post 4 year old birthday party. Add in some scrap planking and screws that were left over from the bed I made (in the last post) and some rubber bands stolen from the junk-mail rolls that perpetually appear on our front doorstep and I had myself a design for what I have called The Canorpheum.
I'm in between on providing the schematic on how to make one yourself... seems excess... but I have it for anyone that wants to comment. I was lucky that the boards were already cut almost perfectly for the box itself. I had but to chop a couple boards here and there, and use a drill and jigsaw to make the template for the cans to sit in.
Now all it needs is some paint. I'm using the iPod to create some unique stencils of the boys (Fotofiti for anyone who cares). Take a listen:
