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Old stringed instruments11/30/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Not much is known about the Sambuca, except that it had Asiatic origins and it has been compared to a rope ladder by Polybius and to a boat by other classical writers. The instrument was very similar to modern harps and was often used during Athenian, Macedonian, and Roman ceremonies. Multiple instruments have been called Sambuca, but the extinct one we are referring to was created by the ancient Syrians and Phoenicians, according to Hellenistic scholars. The sounds of the lyre would often accompany recitations. The number of strings varied and usually included four, seven, and ten. The instrument had a hollow body or sound chest, traditionally made from turtle shell, while the strings were of gut. The performer would play the lyre with a plectrum rather than plucking it with their fingers, and they used the free hand to silence unwanted sounds. To imagine how this instrument must have looked like, before seeing the pictures, think of a small harp with some distinct differences. Although the lyre is known for being used by the Greek during classical antiquity, this string instrument was actually developed in Sumer (present day Iraq). Those who have read Greek mythology are definitely familiar with the lyre, the musical instrument whose harmonious sounds could be heard all over the Olympus Mountain. However, the recreation stays in the area of experimental music archaeology and did not make the gue a popular musical instrument again. There was someone who managed to recreate the gue in 2007 – instrument maker and musician Corwen Broch of Ancient Music. One of its last accounts dates from 1809, when Arthur Edmondston described it in View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands: “Before violins were introduced, the musicians performed on an instrument called a gue, which appears to have had some similarity to the violin, but had only two strings of horse hair, and was played upon in the same manner as a violoncello.” The instrument is considered similar to a series of extinct Scandinavian lyres and zithers. The gue was a two-stringed bowed lire or zither originating from the Shetland Isles. Keep on reading to discover some of the musical instruments artists don’t play anymore: They have been rebuilt by scientists at most, out of pure curiosity or to be able to play certain pieces of music. Some of these forgotten musical instruments have made a resurrection, such as the harpsichord, while others never managed to make a full return to the musical scene and are now just history. For some reason or another, they were forgotten or replaced by similar ones. ![]() Hundreds if not thousands of musical instruments have been invented throughout history some of these instruments have been very popular for the last centuries, like the piano or the violin, while others have fallen into oblivion. ![]()
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