Langspil: Iceland musical instrument
The langspil is a traditional Icelandic drone zither. Since the ancient folk music has been gaining more popularity in the recent years, m...
http://worldhitz4u.blogspot.com/2013/12/langspil-iceland-musical-instrument.html
The langspil is a traditional Icelandic drone
zither. Since the ancient folk music has been gaining more popularity in the
recent years, many more people are able to perform this musical instrument. And
since it only has 1 melody string with one to five drone strings, it is simple
to learn how to play the musical instrument compared with the complicated
musical instruments.
source of picture: langspil.webs.com
The langspil can be performed by plucking the
strings with the hand, with a bow or by hammering the strings of the
instrument. There are two main versions of the musical instrument, straight and
curved and are commonly around the length of 80 cm, but can be as long as 104
cm or as short as 73 cm. several different kinds of wood have been used in the
production of the musical instrument, including the birch, beechwood, oak, and
walnut, since they were commonly carved from the driftwood.
The oldest written source that described the
langspil are from the 18th century. In those times, the musical
instrument are said to be as a long thin box, wider bottom end and with one to
six strings on it. In the early parts of the 19th century, a version
of the musical instrument with a curved sound box was discovered, and this
version of the instrument has an improved timbre. In the year 1855, the book Leiðarvísir
til að spila á langspil , a guide book on playing the langspil was
published. The book also included information on how manufacture the musical
instrument, but with a little printing error in the fretting of the instrument.
This book increased the popularity of the instrument very well. Meanwhile, by
the middle part of the 20yth century, the musical instrument had become rare
and few players performed with the instrument.
By the 1960s, the singer, Anna
Þórhallsdóttir,
understood that the musical instrument was gradually disappearing from the
musical tradition of the country and as a response; she masterminded the
revival of the instrument, which is still going on. The musical instrument also
has a crucial place on the yearly folk-song festival on Siglufjörður.
