kasos
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What is this instrument?
Hi. I thought I'd test our collective memory banks with a bit of a puzzle.
I encountered this, apparently bowed, instrument while going through the E-bay lists today. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7390299195&a...
It's advertised as a gusle (most closely associated with Serbia, though the Montegrins and Croatians play it too, however the Serbs view it as a
national symbol, a little like the Irish harp, or the Cretan lyra for Greek Islanders) but, other than the carving on the back, which is similar to
the type of thing they do in the former Yugoslavia, the instrument doesn't fit the usual profile for a gusle very well.
For one thing, all the gusles I've seen (I also own one, for what that's worth) usually have a hide, rather than a wooden top. Secondly, they are
traditionally strung only with a single string - the item being sold in this listing has at least three strings on, and room for a few more, judging
by the extra holes in the pegbox (!?!?)....
Peyman once showed me a picture of an instrument hanging in a music shop in Iran which had a similar round pegbox. It may also have had a wooden top,
though it was a little hard to tell from Peyman's picture, which was at a bit of a distance (it was lumped in with a bunch of other instruments, as
well).
Has anyone out there seen an instrument like this before, and if so, where's it from, and what's it called?
Even if you haven't seen an instrument like this before, I'm interested in your thoughts on what the extra peg holes might be for. Are they for
sympathetic strings, like a Bulgarian gadulka, or an Indian sarangi? Or are they to permit coursing of the playing strings? Coursing is not common
when dealing with bowed instruments, but I've seen some pictures from the Kashgar region in Western China where they did two courses on a
kamenche-style bowed instrument....
Is it possible that this is really intended as a coursed, plucked instrument, maybe like a pirin or baglama, and that the bow was paired with the
instrument by someone who mistakenly thought it was a Serbian gusle?
Thanks, Mark
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David Parfitt
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Could it be a Bulgarian gadulka?
David
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Django
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This is a good thread for me to ask...is there anyone in the Boston area who can play something like this instrument to accompany oud and percussion
in the "Cantigas de Santa Maria"(or vielle, rebec, etc.)? Let me know at MRBAYNE@sbcglobal.net. A studio recording and perhaps some public playing
are what I'm aiming for. Thanks!
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kasos
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Thanks for your interest, David. If it is a gadulka, it's a somewhat unusual one, at least by current instrument building standards.
I've got a gadulka, which I obtained second hand, but which was apparently purchased in Bulgaria by its original owner about 5 years ago. It look
very much like the one you find in this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/BULGARIAN-PROFESSIONAL-FOLK-INSTRUMENT-GADULKA-...
Modern gadulkas have got a lot of sympathetic strings - mine has ten, and this seems to be the current standard. The "mystery instrument" would
only have three, which is pretty spartan by comparison...
However, I've seen pictures of some gadulkas (maybe older, more rustic in origin) which apparently also feature less sympathetic strings - though not
so few as the mystery instrument), and an extra wide headstock, that could fairly be likened to the headstock on the mystery instrument. -see http://www.instrumentworld.info/info.php?id=gadulka
Even if this is in fact a rustic gadulka, or its Serbian relative, I remain very interested to hear from someone, either Peyman or someone with
knowledge of Iranian and central Asian instruments, as to whether a similar instrument is found further east.... There's still Peyman's picture to
explain.... and I've seen at least two other identical round headstock instruments on E-bay, also with only three strings but six pegholes - in one
case, the origin was attributed to India...who knows?
By the way, for purposes of comparison, for those who might not be familiar with Balkan instruments, this is a more "normal" guzla.
http://www.instrumentsmedievaux.org/pages/guzla.html
Though animal heads are traditionally used for the headstock (mine has a horse head too) the two horse-head headstock on the example on the link is a
bit of a special ornamental touch that you'd not find on your typical modern example.
Finally, some comments about size. My gusle is about 22 inches long, but they are made much larger, too - it's not unusual to see them between 27 to
30 inches long. My gadulka is a little longer, about 24 inches, however, it's a much sturdier instrument than the gusle, with a larger pear shaped
resonator, and, proportionally to the body, a shorter neck (sort of like the oud in relation to the lavta). The mystery instrument seems rather
short, by comparison to either of them....
Mark
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al-Halabi
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I agree that this instrument is different from the traditional one-string gusle. Based on its general appearance it looks very much like a local
variant of the Greek lyra. There are lyra-type folk instruments with three strings in several regions outside Greece and Crete, including the lirica
in Hercegovina, the lijerica in Croatia, and the lira in Calabria. It could also be a Bulgarian gudulka, as David suggested. Gudulkas have sympathetic
strings lying underneath the three or four bowed strings. Maybe the extra holes on the pegbox were intended for sympathetic strings. I am not closely
familiar with these regional fiddles and their historical styles to place this particular instrument.
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minstrel
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For my two cents, I'd have to go with a Croatian lijerica, although I've never seen one so ornate. I definately don't think it's a guzla.
Gadulkas are occasionally made with only 3 strings (no sympathetics), but the bridge/soundpost mechanism, tailpeice, small size, and ornamentation,
really go against 'traditional' craftsmanship (I realize 'traditional' is a very broad term  Looking at the shape of the bridge, there doesn't seem to be much curvature which further suggests a lijerica which usually have
'flatter' bridges to facilitate the constant open droning. Cool bow though, never seen a friction-peg frog before!
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kasos
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Thanks for your input, everyone. I communicated with Peyman, yesterday, and he also agrees that this instrument is Balkan, rather than from further
east.
Minstrel: A Croatian origin sounds pretty convincing, and is easier to reconcile with the circumstances under which it is being presented for sale,
than would a Bulgarian origin. I note that this particular seller was also selling a conventional gusle a short time ago. One could put all this
together and hypothesize that the seller, who might not be very knowledgeable himself/herself, has a connection to someone in the former Yugoslavia,
whose access to both a Serbian and a Croatian instrument would be fairly natural.
Or, alternatively, the seller is, quite innocently, viewing "gusle" as a generic term for bowed traditional instruments from the Balkans, a little
like the term "lyra" is used in the Greek speaking world to describe several different instruments....
By the way, Minstrel, I obtained my gadulka last fall via E-bay from a Balkan music player in Victoria - could that be you? I'm the guy from Flin
Flon, MB....
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David Parfitt
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The carving on it certainly looks similar to that on wooden plates, vases etc. that I remember people used to bring back from holidays in Yugoslavia.
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Marina
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Well, well, since I'm from (former) Yugoslavia ;-), I can tell this is not GUSLE. GUSLE has ONE STRING They use the instrument mostly in Monte Negro.
Player sings very long heroic poems about late or mitological Serbian heros & kings and accompany himself on GUSLE. Those singers use to preserve
Serbian history just from passing the poems from generation to generation. Melody played on GUSLE is not so nice, it's very monotonius and voice of
singer is kind a shouting. GUSLE is played alone, no drums or other instruments to accomp. it. Just singing. People do not dance on GUSLE tunes. Just
listening to the poem which is sang.
But, there are other similar instuments in Croatia, Greece & Bulgaria. It coul be that this is kind of lira.
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kasos
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Thanks Marina. What you're describing is very much in the mainstream of what I'd read elsewhere - as I mentioned above, my own gusle is single
stringed too....
I've heard recordings of the epic poetry accompanied by gusle, and agree that it can easily be perceived as repetive/monotonous, especially if one
looks for a danceable meter, or the sort of variety one gets in art music from other genres or cultures. The tunes seem to stay within a very narrow
range of notes. One commentator I read suggested that traditional gusle playing always stayed in first position, which, on a one stringed instrument,
pretty much forces you to stay within that narrow range - I wonder if this is because the voice imitates the instrument, or because the instrument is
imitating what is already a feature of traditioal vocal style?...Further to this self imposed limitation, there's a Serbian born doctor in my
community who described the gusle as a "one string-one, note instrument(!)" which might be a little harsh, but I agree he's coming from somewhere,
given the strong tradition involved.....
As for myself, I have allowed myself the liberty to go into positions when playing the guzle - I treat it much as though it was an erhu (Chinese
fiddle) in this respect, other than for the use of fingernails (the erhu is traditionally played with the pad of the finger rather than the flat of
the fingernails, which I understand is the typical technique for the guzle as well as for the Cretan lyra and Ottoman Classical kemence). Also,
inspired by erhu technique, I allow myself to use the thumb for stopping notes, which permits a wider range of melodic intervals to be played with
confident intonation. Given these adjustments, I have relatively little difficulty playing a wide range of tunes (including much music otherwise
playable on the violin) on the guzle, too. As one might expect, the hide top gives the guzle a different tonal quality (a little softer, but rather
mellower and richer on the low end) than the violin, which is very effective on some music....
A final comment - whatever its inherently musical value might be taken to be, the musical epic poetry tradition to which the gusle is so inextricably
linked is one of relatively few modern survivals of that ancient technique, and deserves a great deal of respect on this account - I understand that
much of medieval literature (including pieces like the Roman de la Rose) was also originally presented in sung form, using similar melodic patterns as
are used for the Serb and Montengrin epics.... It's something that made a great deal of sense when a large part of the population could not read or
write themselves....
Take care, Mark
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