Black Lump On Dog's Tail

cimbalom (also called Cymbal Cymbal or Hungarian)

The cimbalom is a stringed instrument percussive, of which little is known about its origin, but that is inevitably associated with Gypsy music. It is a widely used instrument in music of some Balkan countries, and is often said that the Roma people led him to Eastern Europe around the twelfth century. Their use is particularly remarkable among the "Lautari" gypsy musicians from Romania and Hungary.

The cimbalom is trapezoidal, and their cords are arranged, for shorter and longer acute and severe, following the parallel sides. This instrument looks like a kind of zither or harp, and played percussing the ropes with two decks. In its right side are the 'tuning pins, a sort of pins, with which it can tighten or loosen the cued, while the left are the pins that hold the cued.

The cimbalom has a large number of strings. Usually acute strings are grouped into groups of four tuned to the same note, while the most serious are arranged in two or three notes or even if it is a larger cimbalom.

cimbalom There are two kinds: the laptop medium-high log that hangs from the shoulders and can be executed while walking, and the concert, the largest and longest track, created around 1874 by the Hungarian expert piano maker Josef schund. The latter is the size of a small piano, and has wooden legs and a foot hold it very characteristic that allows you to "mute" the strings, ie shorten the vibration when pressed. Thus, there is the typical sound of cimbalom, which in the case of portables can be achieved by interweaving pieces of clothing or any type of cloth between the strings.

The first textbook for this instrument was published by Geza Allaga, a member of the orchestra of the Royal Hungarian Opera in 1889. The instrument became popular in Austro-Hungarian Empire and was used by all ethnic groups in the country, including Jews klezmorim and musicians Slavs and Magyars (Hungarians), and Roma (Gypsies) and the aforementioned musicians Lautari. The use of this instrument was extended to the late nineteenth century and replaced the kobza in Romanian and Moldovan folk groups. In Wallachia is used almost as a percussion instrument, while in Transylvania and Banat, style of playing is more tonal, heavy with arpeggios.

Ion Miu - Only the cimbalom