What is cobla music and cobla band?

What is cobla music and cobla band?


The 'cobla' is the name of the woodwind music band that plays for the sardana dances and other Catalan culutural traditions. Sardanes is a traditional dance of Catalonia which is danced in a circle. In the cobla there are usually two tibla players, called the tiblaires, who are in the first row. The Tibla is a kind of oboe instrument


Cobla band Barcelona

Sardanas dancing Barcelona


Cobla band







A modern Cobla band usually has 11 players with the following instruments seated in two rows.

One flabiol, a type of fipple flute played with the left hand while a tamborí, a small drum attached to the left arm of the player, is played with the other hand.
Four Catalan shawms – double-reed woodwinds
Two tibles – a tible is like an oboe, but a louder sound
Two tenores – a larger version of the tible
Five brass instruments which are two cornetins (trumpets), a trombó (trombone), two fiscorns (baritone saxhorn) 
A three-string contrabaix (double bass)

Read more about cobla instruments and hear their sound on Manresa cobla website

Website Cobla Sant Jordi
Pictures Sardanes dancing Barcelona

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The modern Cobla normally consists of 11 players with the following instruments:
One flabiol, a type of fipple flute played with the left hand while a tamborí, a small drum attached to the left arm of the player, is played with the other hand.Four Catalan shawms – double-reed woodwindsTwo tibles – a tible is like an oboe, but with a louder soundTwo tenores – a tenora is a larger version of the tibleFive brass instrumentsTwo trumpetsA trombone – often a valve-tromboneTwo fiscorns – a fiscorn is a rotary-valved baritone saxhorn with the bell facing forward, similar in appearance to a large flugelhornA string bass – originally and still often a three-string double bassThere are small variations to this instrumentation in contemporary coblas: for example there is sometimes a third trumpet player.
The playing formation has two rows. The front row has (as seen by the audience from left to right) the flabiolist (with pipe and drum), the second and first tibles, and the first and second tenores. The back row, often raised, has the second and first trumpets, the trombone, and the first and second fiscorns. The double bass player, often standing, is on the right of the band.
Last Updated on Saturday, 25 August 2018 12:36