Tambura

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The tambura is a type of string instrument found in different versions in different places around the world; most are plucked lutes.

1 Bulgaria
2 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia
3 India
4 See also
5 External links

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Bulgaria

The Bulgarian tambura is a long-necked, fretted, bouzouki-like string instrument that comes in two styles: eight-string (four pairs) and four-string (two pairs), played with a plectrum.

The Bulgarian tambura is played in two ways. As an accompaniment instrument it is tuned similarly to the first four strings of a guitar and played as such. As a melody instument it is tuned in fifths, with the strings that are not being played for melody sounding as drones.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia

Template:Main In Bosnia and Hezegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, especially their Pannonian parts Slavonia and Vojvodina, tambura (often referred to by the diminutive tamburica) are the basic instruments for traditional folk music. This usually performed by small orchestras of three to ten members, but large orchestras capable of playing even classical pieces arranged for tambura also exist.

There are several types of tambura, with three to four strings. The basic forms are samica (three double strings), bisernica (two double strings and two single strings; four tones), prim (one double string and three single strings; four tones), bas-prim or brač (two double strings and two single strings; four tones), čelović(two double strings and two single strings; four tones), čelo (four strings), bas or berda (four strings), and bugarija or kontra (one double string and three single strings; four tones). The names of the instruments and method of playing them depends on the tuning of the strings.

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India

Template:Splitsection A tambura (South India) or tanpura (North India) is a long-necked Indian lute, unfretted and round-bodied. It has four or five (rarely, six) wire strings, which are plucked one after another to make a drone sound.

Hindustani classical music tanpuras come in different sizes: bigger "males" and smaller "females". Male singers pitch their tonic note (Sa) to C#, female singers usually a fifth higher. The male instrument has an open string length of one metre, the female is sized down to 3/4. The standard tuning is 5881 sol do' do' do or in Indian sargam: PA sa sa SA, the last SA low. With a five-string instrument, the seventh or NI (natural minor or major 7th) is added: PA NI sa sa SA, the last SA low again (see swara). Both the instrument and how it is played look very simple, though in fact it takes a lot of experience and a very good ear to tune and play the tanpura.

It is designed in three different styles:

Miraj style: the favorite form of tanpura for Hindustani performers; it is usually between three to five feet in length, with a well-rounded resonator plate (tabali) and a long, hollow straight neck. The round lower chamber to which the tabli and the neck (dandh) are fixed is actually a selected and dried gourd (tumba).
Tanjore style: this is a south Indian style of tambura, used widely by Carnatic music performers. It has somewhat different shape and style of decoration from that of the Miraj. Typically, no gourd is used, but the spherical part is gouged out of a solid block of wood.
Tamburi: this style has became more popular recently, due to its small size and portability. It is two to three feet long, with a shallow resonator and a slightly curved tabali. It may have from four to six strings. The small five-string tamburi are tuned to the higher octave and are the preferred instruments for providing the drone for solo-performances by string-playing artists, as the lighter, more transparent sound does not drown out the lower register of a sitar, sarod, or sarangi.