What is a bandura? This is a plucked musical instrument. Probably, today few people have an idea about it, because folk music eventually faded into the background. Also, the word is used in a figurative sense. What the bandura means will be discussed in the article.
Dictionary definition
The meaning of the word "bandura" in the sources is indicated as follows.
In the literal sense, this is a Ukrainian traditional multi-stringed musical instrument. It has a wide neck and is plucked. Example: "This musician performed a variety of songs to his bandura - both love and pious, pleasing all segments of the population."
When used figuratively, this word has a disparaging connotation and denotes an uncomfortable, bulky object. Example: “It took a lot of effort for the workers to lift such a bandura as this huge antique bookcase to the fifth floor.”
Etymology
To understand what a bandura is, it would be advisable to consider the origin of the word.
Even thoughthat the lexeme refers to the traditional Ukrainian musical instrument, its roots go back to the Latin language. There is the noun pandura, which refers to a pandura, a small lute that looks like a mandolin or a guitar.
This Latin word, like many others, comes from ancient Greek, being formed from πανδοῦρα. The latter stands for kifaru, a three-stringed musical instrument. In Russian, the word "bandura" came from Polish, it comes from the noun bandura, formed from the Italian pandūra.
Description
Bandura is, as noted above, a Ukrainian folk instrument. It has a short neck and an oval body. The length of the strings on old instruments reaches 12-25 cm, and on modern specimens - 53-70 cm. Some of them are stretched over the fretboard, these are the so-called basses, which are longer and lower-sounding. The other part is attached to the soundboard, these are the strings, they are shorter and sound high.
The bandura is distinguished by its fullness of sound and characteristic bright timbre. It is played by plucking the strings with special “nails” with fingers, or doing without them.
Continuing to consider what a bandura is, let's say a few words about the origin of a musical instrument.
Origin
There are several versions about the origin of the Ukrainian bandura. Most likely, it is connected with the kobza, but not with the gusli.
Kobza –This is a Ukrainian musical instrument, also plucked, resembling a lute. It has four or more paired strings, it consists of a body and neck, on which there are eight to ten forced frets.
The following facts speak in favor of this version.
- In the 9th century, banduras were symmetrical, which is typical for instruments like the lute.
- The main strings are located on their body and are called stringers, that is, they are part of the main ones.
- Somewhere on the banduras the same functional string names as on the kobza fingerboard are still preserved.
- The traditional repertoire and method of extracting sounds on these instruments have much in common.
Use
The bandura is an instrument with a harp-like playing style where there is no fretboard clamping. In the 17th century, kobza was very popular in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the 18th century, the fashion for it has spread in the aristocratic circles of Russia. Their representatives decided to dissociate themselves from the name "kobza", which seemed to them servile. Then they began to call her in the Western, in the Latin manner, "bandora", which seemed noble to them.
Kobza bandura is related to mandora and panduri. These musical instruments, through the medieval lute, go back to the Turkic called "kopuza", as well as to the Middle Eastern oud.
Even in the 15th century, kobza players from Ukraine were invited to the Polish royal court, and in the 18th-19th century, to the imperial court of Russia. Today it is known, for example, about large kobzapast:
- Timofey Bilogradsky;
- Andree Schute;
- Ostape Veresae.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the old-world kobza was supplanted by the bandura. At various times, the latter had from seven or nine to twenty or thirty strings. They were made of veins, and later they began to twist around with copper wire. Bandura was widespread among the Ukrainian Cossacks. They were played by wandering blind men who performed songs of such genres as historical, thoughts, cantatas, psalms. Thanks to them, we remember what a bandura is.
