SURVIVING FOLK INSTRUMENTS. THE BANDURRIA -PART TWO- BY DANIEL GARCIA DE LA CUESTA

SURVIVING FOLK INSTRUMENTS: THE "BANDURRIA"-PART TWO- BY DANIEL GARCÍA DE LA CUESTAThis brief summary was adapted by Daniel García de la Cuesta from his book entitled "The bandurria and the rebec", published in 2005. All rights reserved by the author and published under his kind permission.

"Caballu" is the name for the wooden bridge where the strings rest on the skin and is used to transmit its vibration to the .We must take note that the caballu is plane because all the strings are played at the same .

caballu and restriellu details

The "restriellu" is another very important part in the study of the instrument. It is a piece of wood or bone, which holds the strings at the bottom for the tension and endure to the tune bandurria. They are pieces that, thanks to its size and design, in most cases consist of authentic traditional jewelry art. The restriellu further personalize each bandurria and gives us much information about the instrument, as this piece is developed in Europe. In fact, it can be seen in many of the instruments in the hands of musicians in sculptures and drawings from the romanic period. The "rabil" is an external element to the instrument, but essential to make sound. It is the "bow" , a curved wooden stick with a bunch of ponytail, which are held on the ends. The tension of the bow is regulated by the player himself, depending on his taste and touch for each melody. This is another detail that shows the antiquity of the use of the instrument.

Way to hold the bow

The way to play the bandurria is sitted and holding it in between the legs. The name of bandurria led to debate for the sake of being the word with which it is known today as for another most popular and plucked, specially through working groups and university ones since the beginning of the 20th century, and also because of another one that resembles called rebec, spread and used at: Cantabria LLeón, Palencia, Segovia, Avila, Toledo, Zamora, Cáceres, Logroño, Soria and other regions in Spain, giving rise to confusion and disdain, and to the wrong traditional name of bandurria. The name also brought rebec misleading. People differs bandurria from rebec in these populations specially for the way it is grabbed for playing and also the area where it is played. Rebec is well known in the area of Reinosa and Campoo, the instrument that is hold on one's side. This style is called "campurriano" by territoriality. On the other hand, it is called bandurria the instrument which is placed in between the legs, as in the area of Polaciones, this style is called "purriegu", because that is the adjective or name given to the inhabitants of the valley, or purriegos.

The Asturian bandurrieru Dani Garcia and Cantabrian rabelist Paco Sobaler

The "8" shape of the bandurria also gives us important clues to their origin, distribution and relationship to similar instruments appear to share that history. The instruments in the "8" shape in Europe and around are known by the name of "organistrum" or "çinfonía" and drifts toward other forms smaller and easier to handle by the musicians, and use to have three strings.