A Dream Instrument, A Hyperobject

Thinking about Moondog all day had me thinking about longing all day. About what I wanted to feel. Comfortable, at rest, able to listen. Maybe to trees and water. Then, about what I wanted to hear. A deep, but not necessarily low, draw. Subject to the breathing of life through a mouthpiece. Hollow like water reflections on the ceiling of a cistern. Notes that sound soft with distance but seep all around like the opening call of Chypho’s Entomangaku. And finally, what I wanted to hold in my hands. The reason I learned harmonica was because it could be played in a rocking chair. It would bring music to the circle around the fire in a humble and earthen way, as opposed to the performing strum of strings. A melody of mortal simplicity that wouldn’t require the player or listeners to contort out of their perfect comfort. 

The Unacava or Cava Casone, both meaning “hollow together” or “together hollow”, is a wind instrument on the basis of an ocarina’s hollow chamber. Fingering holes allow the player to change the notes they are playing as the glass chamber’s resonance is magnified by a metal bell horn below. The bell horn acts as the vibrating bridge to a set of three tunable strings which can either be plucked or lightly fingered.