Sebiestor Story Drums - Anirmiak Winds

https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Sebiestor_spiritual_beliefs#Importance_of_Music_and_Dance


The most significant tool of the Sebiestor musician inside and outside their beliefs is the use of the voice and its modulation. Sebiestor music is most commonly described as haunting, deep and reverberating, and this is especially true of its employment in spiritual practice. One of the common elements of the music produced for ceremony has been the use of binaural sound, usually through vocalization but also instrumentation. This has been linked with the earliest tunes produced, which used the natural environment of a cave, cavern or shelter to play with sound so that it either resonated from a particular part of the natural space, or it could not be determined exactly where the noise originated from as to represent a sound from ‘another place’. The slow drum, still preferably made from animal skin, is used to this day to set a beat, and instruments that combine elements of chime, gong or similarly resonant tone are commonly used. It’s also common for wind instruments to be employed, not only capturing breath but the natural winds like those that would sweep the tundra.

The Anirmiak is the most significant instrument. Traditionally made of a mixture of skin and bone, though now constructed with synthetic equivalents, this instrument requires minimal manipulation and is therefore accessible to every Sebiestor. The instrument harnesses the presence of natural winds to produce a rhythmic and eerie sound from several different conduits, or artificial 'throats’. Due to modulation and enhancement the music can mimic distant moaning voices, humming, song or even cries depending on its positioning and the strength of the winds. The instrument was traditionally placed at the entrance to a cave or placed in the open near a campsite as Sebiestor went to sleep or were reflective, to either ‘speak’ to them as they rested or meditated or to literally ‘sing’ of their surroundings, rousing them from slumber should the winds become so intense as to warn of an impending snowstorm. The instrument is also used to make music of the winds outside caves, which could unsettle young children. Sebiestor funerals also employ the use of the Anirmiak, where the assembled mourners will listen to the song of the same winds that disperse the departed’s ashes, or those that howl around the highly-elevated and exposed locations used for the offering of a chieftain or significant figure.