What is a bandura? This is a plucked musical instrument. Probably, few today have an idea about him, because folk music eventually faded into the background. And this word is used in a figurative sense. About what bandura means will be considered in the article.
Dictionary Definition
The meaning of the word "bandura" in the sources is indicated as follows.
In the literal sense, it is a Ukrainian traditional multi-stringed musical instrument. It has a wide neck and is plucked. Example: "This musician, under his own bandura, performed a variety of songs - both love and pious, catering to all segments of the population."
When used in a figurative meaning, this word has a dismissive connotation and means an uncomfortable, bulky object. Example: “The workers took a lot of effort to raise such a bandura to the fifth floor as this huge old bookcase.”
Etymology
To understand what a bandura is, it would be advisable to consider the origin of the word.
Despite the fact that the token belongs to a traditional Ukrainian musical instrument, it is rooted in Latin. There is a noun pandura, meaning pandura - a small lute that resembles a mandolin or guitar.
This Latin word, like many others, came from ancient Greek, being formed from πανδοῦρα. The latter stands for kifaru, a three-stringed musical instrument. In Russian, the word "bandura" appeared from Polish, it comes from the noun bandura, formed from the Italian pandūra.
Description
Bandura is, as already noted above, a Ukrainian folk instrument. He has a short neck and an oval body. The length of the strings on old instruments reaches 12-25 cm, and on modern instances - 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 deck, these are snouts, they are shorter and sound high.
Pandora is distinguished by completeness of sound and characteristic bright timbre. It is played by pinching strings with fingers, on which special “nails” are put on, or dispense with 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 regarding the origin of the Ukrainian bandura. Most likely, it is connected with the kobza, but not with the harp.
Kobza is a Ukrainian musical instrument, also plucked, resembling a lute. He has four or more paired strings, it consists of a body and neck, on which there are eight to ten fixed frets.
The following facts speak in favor of this version.
- In the IX century, the banduras were symmetrical, and this is inherent in instruments like a lute.
- The main strings are located on their body and are called snags, that is, they are part of the main ones.
- In some places, the same functional string names as on the kobza neck are still preserved on the banduras.
- The traditional repertoire and method of extracting sounds on these instruments have much in common.
Using
A bandura is a tool with a playing method similar to playing a harp, where there is no pinch of strings on the fretboard. In the XVII century kobza was very popular in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the XVIII century, fashion has spread to it 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 Western, in the Latin manner, “bandora,” which seemed to them noble.
Kobza Pandura is akin to Mandora and Panduri. These musical instruments through the medieval lute date back to the Turkic under the name "kopuza", as well as to the Middle Eastern oud.
In the XV century, kobzars from Ukraine were invited to the Polish royal court, and in the XVIII-XIX - to the imperial court of Russia. Today it is known, for example, about large kobzars of the past:
- Timothy Bilogradsky;
- Andrei Shuta;
- Ostape Veresay.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the old-world cobza was supplanted by a bandura. At various times, the latter had from seven to nine to twenty to thirty strings. They were made of veins, and later they began to wrap them around with copper wire. Widespread bandura was observed among Ukrainian Cossacks. They were played by wandering blind people who performed songs of such genres as historical, thoughts, cantatas, and psalms. Thanks to them, we remember what a bandura is.