Gudulka, a bow string musical instrument

Bulgarians

Taurida province, city Pryaslav

1896?

Museum of the Peoples of the USSR

Wood; animal derived materials: offals: bowels; metal

length 19.0; width 19.0; height 4.5

РЭМ 8761-16091

Gadulka (Bulgarian), kaush and kemenche (Gagauz), kyamani (Armenian), or Pontic lyre (Greek) is a three-stringed bow instrument scooped out of a solid piece of wood. When played, the instrument is held upright, and strings are pressed not with finger pads from above but with nails from below; this enables shifting the hand smoothly when playing, and produces an especially soft and melodious sound. In Asia Minor, Crimea, and the Balkans the instrument was pear-shaped and had gut strings; scientists relate its origin to the Byzantine Empire. In Turkey, the instrument is used to perform Sufi music. An elongated bottle-shaped bow instrument with silk strings became common on the North Black Sea coast and partly in the Caucasus. After the Greco-Turkish population exchange in 1923, the instrument appeared also in Greece. Besides, it is played in Greek and Turkish expatriate communities.