worldwide traditions
women taborers
Men vastly outnumber women in all traditions that have a three-holed pipe as part of their culture. This is not because great strength is needed (often cited as a reason for men-only professions). It is purely cultural. Women were possibly there, albeit in small numbers. Or is it that women are not widely represented in the iconography because they were there in such large numbers, so common, as to be ignored? In the 21st century women taborers are becoming more visible.
This essay is put here as a discussion point and will no doubt be added to/amended by readers.
Do send views and/or pictures to Frances, project manager.
The double pipes were widespread in ancient representations of musicians. 8 archeological figurines carved in stone playing double pipes have been found in Ibiza, Spain. 6 of these figures are female. (source) |
![]() |
![]() |
In European medieval manuscripts This hybrid is definitely part female
|
![]() a manuscript written 1230-1294. |
![]() |
A medieval mermaid playing pipe and tabor; 1313 France | ![]() |
|
||||||
![]() |
Women taborers are also depicted in glass. |
![]() |
1533 Design for a triumphal arch for Anne Boleyn's coronation procession in London, England. |
![]() |
Jan Massys (c.1510 – 1575) was a Flemsih painter who put a female pipe and tabor player right on the edge of 'Jovial Company' |
![]() Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559-60 Dutch painter |
The subject of childhood had hitherto been virtually ignored in western thought. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
This drawing is taken from a play of 1577. At this time this player could be a male cross-dressing. |
![]() |
Female pipe and tabor player ceramic, modelled at Longton Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, England, c1760. British Museum |
In Hondarribia, in the Basque country, an accuser's declaration during the 1611 witch trials under the Inquisition said that he saw Inesa Gaxengoa play the tamboril. It is not known why that was used against her; whether it was because women were not allowed to play the txistu (pipe), or because playing the txistu was a sin in itself, or both.
Some have said that so few women have been depicted in the past because there were no players and it was just a fanciful curiosity: | |
![]() |
This is a curiosity (Wentworth Castle). The symbolism of the portrait is clear. |
![]() |
In the early 18th century human activities in Europe were satirised by being depicted as being carried out by monkeys.
A German court orchestra was reproduced as ceramic monkeys. This copy looks like a female.
They are usually male. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Three Victorian ceramic statuettes, the first one broken. Do they show actual women or are they viewed only in the ceramic modellers' eyes as to what will sell? |
|
![]() |
In the drawing ' The Harvest Home' this girl helps to lead a procession coming in from hay-making. (Thomas Rowlandson, 1756 - 1827 London, England, ) |
![]() |
1801 England A group of women gather round to listen to the female taborer. |
![]() |
J Sherman's photograph was taken alongside the Oxford University Morris Men in 1925. | ![]() |
|
In the 1929/1930's Joan Sharp (1898-1968) was playing pipe and tabor for morris and country dancing in England and on tour to the USA and Canada..
|
Joan Sharp and Douglas Kennedy |
Some morris dancers were completely against women as dancers, managers and musicians until early 21st century. In April 1934, one dancer of the East Surrey Morris wrote a letter in which his criticism of the intervention of women in morris dancing was unequivocal: "As regards men’s morris, my feeling is that it should be entirely man-managed. Women should have nothing to do with its management at all." (source)
A Miss Barnett was praised by the Oxford University Morris Men: |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
![]() |
France, 21st century. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Provence; statuettes based on two female taborers. These are for sale alonside statuettes of men. |
![]() |
Woman playing galoubet-tambourine. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
Ibiza, Spain, 21st century This is the first female pipe and tabor player to play in public in Ibiza. She says: "I am aware that it is something that had never been done before,
but women had never voted before, in
the end it was achieved
and now we see it as something normal and necessary in today's society
like ours" |
![]() |
Joan is a giant used in processions in Majorca, Spain. It was made in 2004.
The instrument was traditionally only played by men but by the 21st century more women were playing in public . |
![]() |
21st century, Basque country |
![]() |
21st century, Majorca, Spain Playing in traditional costume. |
|
|||
![]() |
21st century, England The Early Music Shop chose a woman to play for a video that illustrates their pipes and tabors for sale. |
In The Taborers Society, based in the UK but with international membership, one quarter of it's playing members are female. |
top of page