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Almost murklins time …
Word of the week: Not to be confused with the pubic wig worn by prostitutes of old and other diseased ridden individuals (the merkin), this rare adjective from the 16th and 17th century simply means ‘in the dark’, an umbrella term to accompany activity
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Masterpiece of building by the Baya weaver bird
Word of the week: A delightfully evocative noun that suggests neatness and cosiness, this obscure 17th century word from the Latin means nest and the building of, which can be connected not just to birds, but animals and even humans
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Old orgiophantine work
Word of the week: It sounds like a colossal beast, and indeed much flesh is involved, except this word pertains to a person or presides over, and organises an orgy. Quite how to direct proceedings once it starts is anyone’s guess …
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That’s one quomodocunquizing method …
Word of the week: It's a bit of a mouthful, but also an adjective describing that which makes money in any possible way, from the Latin quomodocunque, and of course if not actually using the word, there are a few songs on the subject
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Rick Moranis is confronted by the plant, played by Levi Stubbs, in Little Shop of Horrors (1986).
Word of the week: Rare, archaic, evocative, and great to get lips and tongue around, it means to satisfy or satiate a hungry person, usually in the context of food, but of course in song lyrics that can mean a whole lot more
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A sweeping visual statement about this week’s word …
Word of the week: Some kind of norse telescope? An instrument to detect scandal? Neither. This week's archaic word originated in 1802 with an invention to automate chimney sweeping and to put dusty child labourers out of danger
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The yaffingale, or green woodpecker
Word of the week: It’s an archaic, southern English name for the European green woodpecker, picus viridis, that species of beautiful colour that taps on softer wood trunks to feed and nest, but how does such a bird come up in song?
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Oh what a carillon … in Bruges, Belgium
Word of the week: The bells! The bells! Struck by metal clappers connected to baton keys, this beautiful sounding word – and a-peeling historic instrument – comprises, by definition, a minimum of 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells played melodically or in chords
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The true sound of Australia …
Word of the week: It's that unmistakable indigenous Australian hardwood trumpet "drone pipe" classified as a brass aerophone and among its extraordinary qualities, playing helps reduce snoring and obstructive sleep apne by strengthening the muscles of the upper airways
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The esraj is a four-string version of the older dilruba
Word of the Week: It has a beautifully eerily, emotional sound that echoes the human voice, that comes not from vocal chords, but from bowed strings in this instrument from southern Asia – mainly music in Sikh, Punjab and eastern Bengal culture
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Güiro - used in more genres than you might imagine
Word of the week: Used in Latin American music, but also by artists from David Bowie to The Rolling Stones, it’s idiophone made of resonant gourd or wood, is held through holes making a rhythmic, ratchet sound by scraping a stick across specially created ridges
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Hurdy-gurdy
Word of the week: It sounds like a medieval insult, disease or even sexual position, but it's a basic form of the stringed instrument played with keys and by turning a hand-crank wheel that rubs against the strings like a mechanised violin
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Tuvan musician Evgeny Saryglar on the igil
Word of the week: It's an elegant, bowed, two-stringed Tuvan musical instrument, central to the music of that southern Siberian region, emitting a haunting sound that often accompanies and is played by throat singers
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Sticking the boot in …
Word of the week: The Australian name for the Mendoza, Mendozer, Monkey Stick, Murrumbidgee River Rattler, or Zob Stick, this ultimate pub instrument is a shake-and-bang percussion stick or pole is mostly made from nailed-on beer bottle tops
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Mbuti pygmies listening back to their own music in 1952
Word of the week: It is a horn-like trumpet used by the Mbuti pygmy tribes of Democratic Republic of the Congo, but also the name of a ritual to celebrate the precious life of the forest to these hunter-gatherers
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A 16-string chromatic nyckelharpa
Word of the week: It's a traditional Swedish instrument that sounds similar to and is bowed like the violin, but with greater resonance, has 16 strings and as many as 37 wooden keys that fret the strings to make particular note
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Plenty of puff: Monsieur le Curé and his Ophicleide
Word of the week: It's an obscure hybrid of tuba and saxophone and evolved from the serpent, this rich-toned keyed brass instrument has a mouthpiece that makes it part of the bugle family
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What’s the scale? Snake songs …
Word of the week: Know your scales? It is also known as the murli or the been, this double-reedpipe instrument made from a gourd is primarily associated with snake charmers on the Indian subcontinent
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A selection of quena flutes
Word of the week: It's an instrument that brings to mind the soaring condor and mountainous Andes – a haunting, beautiful sound emanating from this simple, traditional wooden flute
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Rebecs
Word of the week: Most popular in the 13th-16th centuries, then largely replaced by the viol and violin, yet this beautiful wooden gut- and nylon-stringed instrument has a distinctive sound and still appears in some music today
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