The night watchmen's horn
Aljmaš, the 2nd half of the 19th century
cowhorn, rope, linen, wax
cutting, scraping, gluing

 

length = 43 cm
diameter of the hole 1 = 10 cm
diameter of the hole 2 = 1,8 cm

 

Soundtrack: Stjepan Večković, playing the described instrument from the museum collection

 

POH-436/1920
The Collection of Musical instruments by Franjo Ksaver Kuhač

Description

The horn is made of ox horn whose tip was sawed of. There is a hole slightly cut into both sides through which rope was inserted so the horn can be carried on the shoulder.

Audio recordings

sekundarna/fonoteka/2017/az-24_rog_nocnih_strazara/rog noćnih stražara_aljmaš_436.mp3

Note

The night watchmen’s horn differs from the cowhorn in that it has a reed. The mouthpiece is wrapped with linen and glued with wax. The night watchmen’s task was to patrol the village during the night so he could warn the villagers in case of adverse weather or in case wild animals came to the village. Kuhač writes that the night watchmen plays their melody and sings: "Watchmen and watchwomen keep your fire and your houses safe, it is ten already!"