ethnic / traditional

Khushtar is part of the ancient Uyghur musical tradition. It was handmade in the tradition of Uyghur Master Instrument makers in Kashgar, Xinjiang - western border of China and Turkestan.
Khushtar is made from the wood of a mulberry tree. It has 11 strings; four are for playing, as with a normal violin, and the others are sympathetic strings that resonate along with the bowed strings (similar to a viola d'amore).

The Khushtar is named for the carved bird that is placed on top of the handle. Khush means bird, and tar means strings. The sound of a Khushtar is very clear and resonate, reminicient of a birdsong. The Khushtar evolved, in ancient Kashgar, from the venerable Ghijek instrument.

Swedish Bagpipe (Sackpipa) - set handcrafted by Canadian instrument maker - Boris Favre.
Medieval paintings in churches suggest that the instrument was spread all over Sweden. The instrument was practically extinct by the middle of the 20th century; the instrument that today is referred to as Swedish bagpipes is a construction based on instruments from the western parts of the district called Dalarna, the only region of Sweden where the bagpipe tradition survived into the 20th century.

The bag is notably smaller than that of many other bagpipes. This, however, is no major problem as the pipes require relatively little air. The chanter has a single cane reed and a cylindrical bore, with a range of one octave.

Hurdy-gurdy (or Organistrum, Vielle, Dreihler, Lira Korbowa) is a stringed instrument where traditional bow has been replaced with a wheel and crank and typical neck replaced with a mechanical box with buttons.
Typical Hurdy-Gurdy have one or two melodic strings (Chantelle) and 2 to 4 drone strings called Bourdons. Most of French versions of that instrument have additional "buzzing" string named Trumpette which produces rhythmical sounds especially useful in dance music.

Hurdy-gurdyHurdy-gurdy (ABC TV 2010)

Turkish Baglama (Saz)
playingTurkish saz at the "Spicks & Specks" show (ABC)


Other instruments - Slovakian Koncovka & Fujara flutes, Low Irish Whistle, Tin Whistle, Chinese Ba-wu, Thracian Gajda, Ocarina, Chinese Gu-zheng, Turkish Baglama (Saz), Armenian Duduk

Ba-wu
Ba-wu

 
more about instruments and music: Logo Blogger