Jouhikko
Jouhikko , also jouhikannel or jouhi kantele , is the rare form of a two- or three-stringed bow-struck lyre that is played in folk music in Finland . The part of the name kantele refers to the different, Finnish fretboard-less zither kantele and jouhi ( Finnish "horsehair") generally denotes string instruments.
The bridge standing on the ceiling in connection with an opening on the opposite side characterizes the jouhikko and the closely related Swedish strings talharpa with four strings. It may have a relationship with the six-string fretboard lyre crwth in Wales . The elongated rectangular shape of the body refers to the relationship with drones , which in Northern Europe are called kannel in Estonia , langeleik in Norway , langspil and fiðla in Iceland . The latter was probably the model for the tautirut of the Canadian Inuit . For the theories of origin, see Talharpa .
The jouhikko has no fingerboard. The hole is there to stretch the left hand from below and to shorten one side of the melody by touching it from the side with the fingers. The jouhikko used to be used for Finnish folk songs, today it is less and less common. The strings are traditionally made of horsehair. Replicas have nylon or metal strings.
The three strings are tuned to d¹ – a – e¹, with the middle A string being used as the accompanying drone . This tuning of the instrument is also known as the Karelian tuning. If the drone string is tuned lower, the term haikea (melancholy) is used. One band that still uses this instrument is the folk metal group Korpiklaani .
Web links
- Photo and description (Finnish) ( Memento from January 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ancientmusic.co.uk (English, various strokes)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kandlekoda. (Description of Estonian kannel )