Re: Jankowski Tsimbls

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

-- Budowitz Home Page: http://www.merlinms.dircon.co.uk/budowitz/


> 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.

The Jankowski tsimbls are similar in some ways to the Bandera instruments
but there are essential differences. The tunings which Bandera writes about,
which he calls the Galician, the Gypsy  and the Mischi tunings all have the
C natural ABOVE the C#, which we've talked about before as being typical to
Ukrainian models. Jankowski's are strictly chromatic with no deviations. He
does make them with 5 courses, but told me he wants to start doing them with
4 now. There are only pegs used as braces on the inside, and the bridges
"float" meaning there are no braces under the bridges which connect them
with the bottom and top soundboard. I don't know if they have lengthwise
braces mortised into the pinblock. Forgot to ask. Kick my ass. Please. Josh
>
> 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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