Post by Dick Glasgow on Jul 6, 2007 20:51:36 GMT 1
The Bandura
The oldest record of a banduralike instrument in Ukraine is an 11th-century fresco of court musicians (skomorokhy) in the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
This lutelike instrument is probably the ancestor of the bandura and the kobza.
The two instruments were related, but distinct.
The kobza was smaller in size and had fewer strings, but these were fretted. Around the 16th century prystrunky were added to the bandura, and from that time only one note was obtained from each string.
During the 17th and 18th century the bandura was very popular at the Zaporozhian Sich, among the common people, and at the gentry manors.
In the 18th century the bandura displaced the kobza, and both names are now used synonymously.
Old banduras were symmetrical.
Their shape limited the number of prystrunky and thus the range of the instrument.
In 1894 Hnat Khotkevych designed an asymmetrical bandura, thus increasing its range.
BANDURA
This lutelike instrument is probably the ancestor of the bandura and the kobza.
The two instruments were related, but distinct.
The kobza was smaller in size and had fewer strings, but these were fretted. Around the 16th century prystrunky were added to the bandura, and from that time only one note was obtained from each string.
During the 17th and 18th century the bandura was very popular at the Zaporozhian Sich, among the common people, and at the gentry manors.
In the 18th century the bandura displaced the kobza, and both names are now used synonymously.
Old banduras were symmetrical.
Their shape limited the number of prystrunky and thus the range of the instrument.
In 1894 Hnat Khotkevych designed an asymmetrical bandura, thus increasing its range.
BANDURAThe bandura is a uniquely Ukrainian instrument that does not have any direct analogies in neighboring countries.
The classical or folk bandura is thought to have evolved developed from its predecessor, the kobza, in the 14-15th centuries.
First mentions of a Ukrainian bandurist date back to Polish chronicles of 1441.
The bandura differed from the kobza in that it had no frets along the neck and the major playing was done on treble strings known as prystrunky.
These were placed to one side of the strings strung across the neck.
The classical bandura became very popular among the Ukrainian Cossacks and was often played in the courts of Poland and Russia.
Plucked String Instruments
The classical or folk bandura is thought to have evolved developed from its predecessor, the kobza, in the 14-15th centuries.
First mentions of a Ukrainian bandurist date back to Polish chronicles of 1441.
The bandura differed from the kobza in that it had no frets along the neck and the major playing was done on treble strings known as prystrunky.
These were placed to one side of the strings strung across the neck.
The classical bandura became very popular among the Ukrainian Cossacks and was often played in the courts of Poland and Russia.
Plucked String Instruments