Lijerica: Croatia musical instrument

The lijerica is a musical instrument fabricated in the Croatian region of Dalmatia and Croatian parts of eastern Herzegovina. The lijerica is a pear-shaped, three stringed musical instrument that is performed with the use of a bow. The lijerica is performed to accompany the traditional lindo dance from the region. The name of the musical instrument, ‘lijerica’ comes from the ‘lyra’, the bowed musical instrument from the Byzantine Empire which it is assumed to have come from.

source: lights.bloger.index.hr

While the musical instrument is usually linked with the traditional folk music, the musical instrument is also found in the modern music from the region.

The lijerica is almost related to the bowed musical instrument, lyra of the Byzantine Empire, an ancestor of most of the European bowed musical instrument and equivalent to the rebab that was used in the Islamic empires of that time. Ibn Khurradadhbih of Persia, of the 9^th century, in his lexicographical discussion of musical instruments, cited the lyra to be a typical musical instrument of the Byzantine together with the urghun, shilyani and the salandj. The Byzantine musical instrument spread through Europe westward in the 11^th and 12^th centuries. European writers used the lyra and fiddle off and on when referring to bowed musical instruments. Over the centuries that came after, Europe had continued to have two different types of bowed musical instruments. One is of square shape, held in the arms by the player and it is known as the ‘lira da braccio family’. The other has sloping shoulders and it is held between the knees of the player, and it is known as the ‘lira de gamba family’. During the renaissance, the gambas were essential and elegant musical instruments; the suddenly got discarded by the louder lira da braccio family.