Bouzoukis

Bouzoukis are long-necked lutes, part of a family that includes Ouds, Bouzoukis, Sazs, and Banjos. Bouzoukis are light weight with long thin necks. They are usually about 3 ft in length. The neck on the bouzouki is longer and thinner than on the lute of oud. The light colored, pear-shaped soundboard is backed by a bowl-shaped resonator. There are a number of fixed metal frets along the neck. Typically there are three or four metal strings paired in courses. The instrument is tuned with geared tuning pegs and is played with a plectrum. Bouzoukis are commonly linked with Greece, as they are the mainstay of modern Greek music. But the bouzouki can be found in a number of countries. It is also a mainstay of other Balkan folk music, particularly of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is even an Irish bouzouki.

There are three main types of bouzouki: Trichordo, having three pairs of strings (courses), Tetrachordo, having four pairs of strings, and Irish, having four pairs of strings and a flat back. The trichordo bouzouki was the usual type of bouzouki from around 1920. It had fixed frets, rather than movable ones, and it had 6 strings in three pairs, tuned D-a-d (or E-b-e). This type of bouzouki was used for rebetiko. The illustrated bouzouki is a replica of a trichordo bouzouki used by Markos Vamvakaris. It has tuners for eight strings, but has only six strings. The luthiers of the time often used sets of four tuners on trichordo instruments, as these were more easily available, since they were used on mandolins.

The tetrachordo bouzouki has 8 metal strings which are arranged in 4 pairs, known as courses. It was conceived and established in the scene by a major Rebetis, Manolis Chiotis, during the early 1940s. In the two higher-pitched (treble) courses, the two strings of the pair are tuned to the same note. These are used for playing melodies, usually with the two courses played together. In the two lower-pitched (bass) courses, the pair consists of a thick wound string and a thin string tuned an octave apart. These 'octave strings' add to the fullness of the sound and are used in chords and bass drones (continuous low notes that are played throughout the music).

The Greek bouzouki was introduced into Irish Traditional Music in the 1960s by Johnny Moynihan and was quickly taken up by Andy Irvine. Soon after, the Irish bouzouki began to develop into something like its current form. Today, the Irish bouzouki is an important part of the Irish trad scene, most often (though not always) playing accompaniment, mostly a mix of two note chords, basslines, and bits of countermelody, rather than the melody. Perhaps the best known exponent of the Irish bouzouki is Dónal Lunny, who also created an electric version, known as the e-zouk. The Irish bouzouki generally has a flat or lightly arched back (like that of a guitar or an Irish, American, or Portuguese style mandolin) in place of stave-built round back of the Greek bouzouki, and unlike the Greek instrument is usually tuned to GDAD or GDAE (an octave below the mandolin). For all intents and purposes, the modern Irish bouzouki is a member of the mandolin family, and a bouzouki in name only. However, the Irish bouzouki is distinguished from the somewhat similar-looking octave mandolin in that it has a longer fretboard and characteristic tuning. Like mandolins, Irish bouzoukis are variously made with flat, carved (arched) and bent tops.

Much of this article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bouzouki".