Bohemian Bards

Medieval Bagpipes

The favourite instrument of the Medieval street musician with an instantly recognisable sound, they can be found in a number of variations: The Czech Folk’s Elbow Bagpipes, the Spanish Gaity, the Irish Elbow, the famous Scottish War Bagpipes, which were used in battle to intimidate the enemy. This one are closest to the medieval bagpipes. We designed original construction which allow us compare to all of the above listed options to play subbass, therefore, extremely deep tones. Origin of bagpipe are unclear, the principal of bag whistle, however, were already known to the ancient Greeks, who were interested in the possibility of uninterrupted tone. Already then it was mainly goat or cow skin used for the bladder - as we use it until now.

Shawm

The word Shawm evolved from the Latin concept of Calamus, which means reed or straw. The Shawm is form of Reed Pipe and it came to Europe probably with the Moors, who conquered the Iberian Peninsula around the 7th Century. It is the front of the whistle bagpipe accompanied by extension mouthpiece into which the air is not coming from bag but directly from the mouth of the player. Same as bagpipes the Shawm has been widely used in military music.

Fiddle

Fiddle is a direct predecessor of today’s string instruments such as the Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. It is also one of the most common instruments of the Middle Ages. It evolved from the ancient Lyre, and we can find the first mention of it in the gospel from the 9th Century. Originally it had three to five strings made of gut, and it was leaning on the shoulder or vertical on the leg. The advantage of this tool is raw and novel sound.

Cittern

Cittern is the youngest of these instruments, it reached the peak of its popularity between the 15th and 18th Century, under the names of Gittern, Zitter, Sister or Cytherne, Cittharne. It belongs to the family of Lute instruments developed in the Mediterranean region of the previously mentioned medieval Fiddle, when playing with the bow was replaced by using plectrum. Classical Cittern had one neck, and eight to ten strings. In our band, you may encounter a unique Cittern with two necks that combines two separate instruments - the aforementioned Cittern and Lute Guitar.

Lute

The instrument was imported to Europe from the Arabian Peninsula, and even the name “Lute” in the various language modifications is taken from Arabic - ’Ud, which translates figuratively as wood. It arrived to European continent from three different directions. Firstly over Maury occupation of Spain in the years 711 - 1492, then when Sicily was attacked by Arabs in the 8th Century and, last but not least during a trade with the Middle East. Lute doesn’t have its historically anchored form, it occurs in many different versions, which differ not only in shape, but also tuning. After the regression of the late 18th Century, it’s enjoying increasing interest and popularity with the players and listeners.

Citola

At the end of 12th Century there is a new instrument appearing in Europe called Citola, which appearance and sound comes from the Greek lyre. In this period it were jugglers who had closest to this instrument and besides playing citola they had to know how to play on bagpipes, shawm, hurdy-gurdy and drums. Our citola honours preserved historical sources, particularly the original shape of the tool body. Because of tuning, which is identical to the bass or bass guitar, it is much bigger.

Djembe

The Djembe’s history dates back around 200 years to West Africa. For the drum head is used skin from African goats, because unlike Europe goats they have a rougher texture and are more suited to sound needs. Corpus or body of the Djembe is hand-carved from a single piece of wood, which was at the beginning the part of the whole tree trunk. For these purposes, the most commonly used type of wood are various kinds of African mahogany.

Davul

Predecessors of today’s drums come in many different forms, from the very beginning of humanity, when they were applied primarily for ritual and cult purposes. The drums themselves came into European culture in the early Middle Ages, in the time of Crusades. Mainly due to technical and sound defiances of these drums we do not include them in our production, but we reach out for more distinctive drums as African or Arabic which in original and appropriate manner revive our creation. The current band’s instrumentation is a large bass drum called Davul, African Djembe, Arabic Darbuka, Tambourine and classic drum set in medieval garb, which we use for the larger stage-play.