Gusli

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Gusli

Krylovidnye gusli
Classification	Simple chordophone
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	315.2 (Trough zither with resonator)
Playing range
varies Russin traditional tuning: E3 A3 H3 C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4
Related instruments
Kantele Kannel Kokles Kanklės Zither

Gusli (Russian: гусли, IPA:

Word gusli the word comes from verb *gǫsti(make sound, howl, play music) with suffix *slь(from PIE *-trom). In the times of

The Gusli is one of the oldest musical instruments that have played an important role in the Russian music culture.

The gusli are thought to have been the instrument used by the legendary Boyan (a singer of tales) described in the Lay of Igor's campaign.^{[citation needed]}

The instruments were used by the wandering Skomorokh musicians and entertainers. Preserved instruments discovered by archaeologists in various digs have between five and nine strings with one example having twelve strings.^{[citation needed]}

Types

Folk Gusli have from eleven to thirty-six gut or metal strings, tuned diatonically.

There were two main forms:

• helmet-shaped (Shlemovidnye gusli – Russian: Шлемовидные гусли)
• wing-shaped (Krylovidnye gusli).

Shlemovidnye gusli

Shlemovidnye gusli (Helmet-shaped gusli; Russian: Шлемовидные гусли) is a variety of Gusli held by the musician on his knees, so that the strings are horizontal, the resonator body under them. He uses his left hand to mute unnecessary strings and thus form chords, while strumming all the strings with his right hand. The instrument was spread in southern and western regions of Kievan Rus'.

Krylovidnye gusli

Krylovidnye gusli ("wing-shaped gusli";

The Keyboard Gusli ["Claviroobraznie Gusli" | (Russian: Клавирообразные гусли)] is a heavily strung 19th-century variant with an iron frame, supported on a stand or with table legs. It has a one-octave piano-type chromatic keyboard. Pressing a key raises the dampers on all strings of that note. Pressing the keys for a chord enables its arpeggiated execution.

Related instruments

A number of Slavic folk music instruments have names which are related to Gusli such as the Czech violin housle and the Balkan one-stringed fiddle gusle. In western Ukraine and Belarus, husli can also refer to a fiddle or even a ducted flute. The violin-like variant of the instrument is also related to the South Slavic gusle.

The psaltery variant is related to the

A related instrument is the tsymbaly, a hammered dulcimer.

In Ukraine, it is thought that the gusli may have influenced the development of the multi-stringed bandura, which largely replaced it in the nineteenth century.

Modern Russian performers

• Olga Glazova
• Elena Frolova
• Olga Shishkina
• Alexander Matochkin
• Alexandra Sakovich
• Alexey Belkin

See also

• Ethnic Russian music
• Sergey Nikolaevich Starostin

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gusli.

• "Gusla" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). 1911. — also has a paragraph on the Gusli