Re: whither the zither

[Paul M. Gifford <PGIFFORD...>]

Joel Bresler <jbresler (at) ma(dot)ultranet(dot)com> wrote:

> BTW,  a form of the zither, the kanun, was used fairly often in Sephardi 
> 78s...
> 
Although "zither" is used as a vague term for any instrument which 
has a lot of open strings, to my mind it should be defined as a 
fretted instrument played horizontally, most versions of which have 
open strings used for accompanying the melody, which is played on 
the fretted strings. Thus a kanun (or gusli, kankles, etc.) would not 
qualify as a zither. The Bavarian or Austrian zither is merely the 
best-known variety of an instrument traditionally in western 
Scandinavia, Flanders, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, 
Hungary, and also traditionally in the U.S. under the name 
"dulcimer," among many others. The traditional names are baffling in 
number (raffele, citera, langeleik, hommel, vlier, etc.). But, as this 
instrument never seems to have made it to the heartland of the 
klezmorim in Eastern Europe, as well as being mainly an amateur's 
instrument, it is unlikely to have ever been used. 

Related to this might be why klezmorim never adopted the Lithuanian 
kankles, or gusli, as it is called in Russian. Perhaps it was too 
associated with traditional Lithuanian singing. Maybe they played 
instruments identified with "professional" rather than amateur music. 
The latter would include homemade flutes, zithers, and bagpipes, etc., 
while the former would include all the standard instruments of 
classical and martial music, plus others identified with itinerant 
beggars (dulcimers, hurdy-gurdys [there is an illustration of a 
Jewish hurdy-gurdy player playing in an 18th-century wedding 
procession]). This might account for the single reference of 19th-
century Moldavian klezmorim using the cobza, a lute which was used by 
Gypsy lautari (and not by peasants). Gypsy musicians also eschew 
peasant instruments.

Paul Gifford

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