Todo este grupo de pequeñas guitarras reúne una serie de características comunes: son cordófonos ente 3 y 5 cuerdas (dobles o sencillas) que se tocan generalmente rasgueando, aunque algunos son instrumentos de cuerda frotada con un arco y otros requieren del uso de un “plectro” que puede ser una pluma de ave, un trozo de carey o una púa de material sintético. Muchos de ellos tienen una clara ascendencia afro-europea, con adaptaciones posteriormente en cada una de las culturas donde se asentaron.
También presentamos algunos instrumentos que se han desarrollado en lugares muy distantes que pueden recordarnos a nuestros timple. Es posible que algunos de ellos fueran producto de influencias europeas o árabes, que conocieron otras formas de interpretación y evolución. Sin embargo, en algunos casos, su existencia sólo nos habla del paralelismo cultural, de la necesidad humana de comunicarse a través de la música, por transformar la madera en instrumentos -en general- de sencilla factura y ejecución.
THIS SECTION COMPRISES SOME INSTRUMENTS RELATED TO THE TIMPLE, DEPICTING A FAMILY WITH MEMBERS ALL OVER THE PLANET. BY BECOMING AWARE OF SOME OF THESE INSTRUMENTS, READERS WILL HAVE A WIDER APPROACH ABOUT THE CANARY ISLANDS TIMPLE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THIS TYPE OF MUSIC INSTRUMENTS IN THE MOST POPULAR SECTORS OF SOCIETY.
All this group of small guitars share common features: they are string instruments made of between 3 and 5 double or single strings which are played by strumming the instrument. However, some of them are played by using a bow or a plectrum or pick, which may be made of a bird feather, a piece of tortoiseshell or a synthetic material. Many of them have a clear African-European origin, with subsequent adaptations to the cultures where the finally settled. These are also some instruments that have appeared in fairly remote spots and may remind us the timple. Some of them might be the result of European or Arabic influences which had a different interpretation and development. However, in others cases, the existence of those instruments only proves a cultural parallelism, the human need to communicate through music and the art of converting wood into generally simple instruments.
