Gadulka

Gadulka

Origin

The gadulka (Bulgarian: гадулка) is a traditional Bulgarian bowed stringed instrument. Alternative spellings are “gǎdulka”, “gudulka” and “g’dulka”. Its name comes from a root that means “to make noise, buzz”. The gadulka is an integral part of the Bulgarian traditional instrumental ensembles, often played in the context of dance music.

Origin

The possible origin of Gadulka may be the lyre, a Byzantine instrument from the 9th century AD and the ancestor of most Western European nasal instruments. Similar bowed instruments and descendants of the lyre continue to be played in the Mediterranean and the Balkans to this day, for example the lyre of Crete, Greece; Italy Istanbul, Turkey.