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eenth
century, the lute's rival, the guitar,
which was simpler in construction and
less cumbersome to hold
and to play, finally won the battle for
popular favor.
Other instruments which developed from
the 'oud are the mandolin, the
mandora, panadurina, theorbo,chitarrone
and mandolino. |
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ed its
original name and shape until the
fifteenth century. In Europe, it was the psaliery,
in Russia, gus Ii, in the
Ukraine, bandura. The Latin name
was canon, the Italian, canone,
the German, kanon, the
Scandinavian, kanala, and the
French, micanon.
As early as the
twelfth century, a new Islamic
instrument, very similar to the qanoon,was
introduced to Europe through
Byzantium. The santur, as it
originated, or the ducimer, as it
was named by medieval Europe, is struck
rather than plucked. In Greece it was
known as the santuri and in
Rumania and Hungary it evolved as cemba/om.
The rabab, or "rabe
morisco"-one of the contributory
ancestors of the violin-also spread from
Spain to Europe under the name rebec. It
is a violin-like instrument except that
it is played vertically, mostly by street
musicians.
The last Arab instrument to be adapted by
the western world is the tambourine. A
percussion instrument used to provide
rhythm, the tambourine is made of wood
and parchment with pairs of small brass
cymbals attached around its circular
frame. It is held up by its frame with
the thumb of the left hand on one side
and the rest of the fingers extended on
the other side of the skin. Its effect
can still be felt today in many parts of
Europe, especially in Spain.
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The golden age of
the mandolin was in the eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries when works for it were
written by Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven.
Another instrument developed by the Islamic world
and passed on to Europe is the tanbour or
the buzuk. This instrument has a small
pear-shaped body and long gut-fretted neck. Its
shape required the player to have a far greater
dexterity than was required for performing the 'oud.
In Italy, it was transformed to the calascione
and is still used in most of the Balkan
countries as a folk instrument. In Yugoslavia, it
became tanburitza, in Greece, the buzuki,
and in Russia, the domras.
The qanoon, zither, was first
developed in the Arab world during the tenth
century. It is a flat trapezoidal wooden box,
with twenty-four strings in triple, fastened at
its rectangular side on one end and to pegs on
the oblique side on the other. Small levels lying
below each course of strings are manipulated by
the player to make slight changes in pitch. The
strings are plucked with two horn plectra, one on
each index finger. The qanoon is believed
to have been invented by al-Farabi, the Muslim
mathematician, physicist and musician. From Spain
it was introduced to Europe. It retain- |
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