Re: Jankowski Tsimbls

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

"Peter Rushefsky" <rushefsky_p (at) univerahealthcare(dot)org> wrote:

> thing.  I visited Paul Gifford last year and we compared a picture of
> Jankowski's tsimbls to pictures of old (some over 100 yrs old) tsimbls that 
> Paul
> had taken in a music museum in Belarus and the stylings were very similar.  
> 
> Of interest to me is how Jankowski's instruments help inform us as to the 
> range
> of sounds and textures that were used in klezmer in the last century.  
> 
Also one should consider the cymbalys made today in western Canada by 
Ukrainian-Canadians. There is a book by Mark J. Bandera, published by 
the University of Alberta, which discusses the basic Ukrainian 
design. I suspect Jankowski's design is basically the same as the 
Ukrainian-Canadian, with lengthwise braces mortised into the pinblock 
ends, braces under the bridges which mostly don't touch the back, 
which is thin. Most of the Ukrainian ones have five strings per 
course. The older Romanian ones also have five strings per treble 
course and have a similar bracing design. 

I've taken apart one made in Winnipeg in 1929 and one made around 
Bucharest about 1910, plus looked at drawings of village instruments 
from Belarus. The basic structure is the same! I've seen many old 
American dulcimers and Hungarian cimbaloms taken apart, plus a Swiss 
Hackbrett, etc., and the designs of those are much different. 
Since the instrument was introduced to Moldavia by the 18th century 
and there wouldn't have been migration or communication with Galicia 
that would inform and influence the instrument's design, one has to 
assume that this basic design has existed since 1700 or so. There 
were Jewish makers and it is reasonable to assume that they 
influenced the design of the traditional instrument in that area. 
Note, however, that the factory-built tsymbaly made in Belarus and 
Ukraine haven't retained this basic design. I don't know what the 
contemporary Ukrainian situation is, but I gather that few people in 
Belarus can make the traditional design today, so Mr. Jankowski is 
indeed a link to the past. But from what I've heard, there are quite 
a few makers in Western Canada who are active too. Maybe someone 
could even find someone in Rzeszow, Poland to make one. Those would 
have a close Jewish connection. The "Lark in the Morning" instruments 
appear to be made by the Doina factory in Bucharest prior to their 
closing in 1990 or so. Personally, I don't have any experience with 
them, but my friend Nicolae Feraru says that people avoided "Doina" 
instruments----if they could, they would buy instruments from workers 
in the factory who stole parts and assembled them at home. They are 
tuned in the Hungarian manner, and today are mostly regarded as 
substitutes for the big one.

Paul Gifford

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