Folk musical instruments
Music is an organic part of the existence of the Romanian peasant. The care for the beauty of the sound was passed on also through the rich ornaments that decorate the musical instruments created by the popular craftsmen.
The craftsmen of musical instruments, often make a demonstration of the beauty of their instruments and talent regarding the variety of songs. Instruments as old as the flute, horn, bagpipe, reed pipe have been kept to this day.
The most common instrument is the flute, which is closely related to the raising of animals, especially shepherding. The sound is obtained by completely covering, or opening of the lateral holes of the instrument with your fingers, the air vibrating inside the instrument.
The bagpipe is composed of sac made of goat skin called “burduf”. This is filled with air, like a reservoir, through a small pipe, made of metal or bone. On the wall opposite the pipe there are two whistles. The longest one makes a steady sound which accompanies the entire song of the bagpipe.
During the song, the man playing the bagpipe squeezes the sac under his arm, which pushes the air out through the pipes, and holes of the short whistle are managed by hand.
The bagpipe also has decorations on it. The skin sac has whistles made of wood, often carved in geometrical shapes or in the shape of an animal’s head (usually a goat).
Ancient musical instrument, the reed pipe is made of the gathering of slightly tilted reed tubes (about twenty) or even other materials of different shapes. These tubes are closed at one end by wax plugs and are left open at the other end. At the open end a man blows air in thus making sounds.
Our most famous artist is Gheorghe Zamfir.
The horn is original to Romania and it is an instrument used by sheepherders in the mountains to make different signals. In some areas the horn is also used at funerals and in the past it was also used to announce an invasion.
The horn is a tube open at both ends, made by putting together long tree trunks, well dried, and held together with wooden or metal rings.
