Cobza

Last updated
Cobza
Kobza 001.jpg
String instrument
Other namesKoboz
Classification
Hornbostel–Sachs classification 321.321-6
(Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum)
Related instruments

The cobza (also cobsa, cobuz, koboz) is a multi-stringed instrument of the lute family of folk origin popular in the Romanian, Moldovan and contemporary Hungarian folk music. It is considered the oldest accompaniment instrument in the region comprising Romania and Moldova. Its usage in Hungary is linked with the Táncház movement of the late 20th century.

Contents

It is distinct from the Ukrainian Kobza, an instrument of different construction and origin. [1]

Overview

Old peasant Cobza from Northern Romania. Cobza1.gif
Old peasant Cobza from Northern Romania.

The Romanian Cobza is metal-strung (although modern nylon-strung models exist, mostly in Hungary), and has a very short neck without frets (although a newer fretted cobza can be found in the Republic of Moldova), [2] with a bent-back pegbox. The back is ribbed. It is usually double or triple strung, and often has a characteristic flat end clasp.

Modern Cobza being played as an Oud, with a long thin plectrum. Dusepocobza.jpg
Modern Cobza being played as an Oud, with a long thin plectrum.

The Cobza is played with a plectrum (traditionally, a goose feather) in elaborate and florid melodic passagework, and has a pick-guard similar to that of an oud. Its strings are widely spaced at the bridge to facilitate this technique. It has a soft tone, most often tuned to D-A-D-G (although tuning depends on style, region and player). [3]

The origins of the Romanian Cobza are thought to be a local adaptation of the Persian barbat or Turkish oud, probably brought to the area by itinerant Romani musicians in the 15th century [4] (a Rom/Romani musician is called lăutar, literally lute-player). A Cobza player specifically is called a "cobzar". [5] Notable Cobza players were Ion Păturică, Ion Zlotea, Marin Cotoanță, Grigore Kiazim (from Wallachia), Nicolae Păsnicuțu and Constantin Negel (from Moldavia).

It is said that the Cobza was also played in the 19th century by Jewish musicians from Moldavia region. [6] It seems that Cobza was also used in various music ensembles in the Bukovina region in the mid-war periods, being replaced totally by the mandolin and 4 stringed domra when the north of this area became incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. [7]

The name of the instrument may come from the Turkic "kopuz". [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guitar</span> Fretted string instrument

The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted and typically has six or twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A guitar pick may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either acoustically, by means of a resonant hollow chamber on the guitar, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lute</span> Plucked string musical instrument

A lute is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String instrument</span> Class of musical instruments with vibrating strings

In musical instrument classification, string instruments or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oud</span> Pear-shaped stringed musical instrument

The oud is a Middle Eastern short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument, usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have five or seven courses, with 10 or 13 strings respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theorbo</span> Musical instrument

The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box with a flat top, typically with one or three sound holes decorated with rosettes. As with the lute, the player plucks or strums the strings with the right hand while "fretting" the strings with the left hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cittern</span> Plucked string instrument

The cittern or cithren is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is descended from the Medieval citole. Its flat-back design was simpler and cheaper to construct than the lute. It was also easier to play, smaller, less delicate and more portable. Played by people of all social classes, the cittern was a popular instrument of casual music-making much like the guitar is today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsymbaly</span> Musical instrument

The tsymbaly is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against the strings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cimbalom</span> Hammered dulcimer musical instrument

The cimbalom, cimbal or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in Budapest, based on his modifications to the existing Hammered dulcimer instruments which were already present in Central and Eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lăutari</span> Professional Romani musicians

The Romanian word lăutar denotes a class of musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appalachian dulcimer</span> Fretted string instrument

The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic.

<i>Cümbüş</i> Turkish stringed instrument

The cümbüş is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobza</span> Ukrainian stringed musical instrument

The kobza, also called bandura is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family, a relative of the Central European mandora. The term kobza however, has also been applied to a number of other Eastern European instruments distinct from the Ukrainian kobza.

The torban is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute known as the theorbo in that it had additional short unfretted treble strings strung along the treble side of the soundboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Setar</span> Persian plucked musical instrument with three strings

A setar is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.

Hungarian folk music includes a broad array of Central European styles, including the recruitment dance verbunkos, the csárdás and nóta. It is characterised by complex melodic patterns, rhythmic diversity, ornamentalisation and the use of a distinctive blend of traditional instruments. Instruments traditionally used in Hungarian folk music include the citera, cimbalom, cobza, doromb, duda, kanászkürt, mandolin, tárogató, tambourine, tambura, tekero and ütőgardon.

<i>Barbat</i> (lute) Central Asian lute

The barbat or barbud is a lute of Greater Iranian or Persian origin, and widespread across Central Asia, especially since the Sassanid Empire. Barbat is characterized as carved from a single piece of wood, including the neck and a wooden sound board. Possibly a skin-topped instrument for part of its history, it is ancestral to the wood-topped oud and biwa and the skin-topped Yemeni qanbus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plucked string instrument</span> Subcategory of string instruments

Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum.

The term Romani style refers to the way Eastern European music is played in coffeehouses and restaurants, at parties, and sometimes on-stage in European cities. Music played in this style differs from actual Romani music played by Romani and Sinti people, many of whom regard the term "gypsy" as a slur when applied to their community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taraf (musical band)</span> Type of folk music band in Romania and Moldova

A taraf is a small folk (lăutărească) music ensemble from Romania or Moldova, usually consisting of 3-8 musicians. Instruments include the violin, cello, tambourine, accordion, harmonica and cimpoi. Tarafs also often include an instrument typical to the region: a kobza and cimbalom a trumpet and flute (Moldova), a Tárogató, a clarinet (Transylvania), or a 2-3 stringed lute sometimes called a "zongora". Players may also use instruments improvised from grass, birch bark, mussel shells, and leaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kontra</span>

A kontra is a Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Romani instrument common in Transylvania.

References

  1. Gregory F. Barz, Timothy J. Cooley (eds.) (1997), Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 187
  2. "Cobza - Patrimoniul cultural imaterial al Republicii Moldova". www.patrimoniuimaterial.md.
  3. "Moldvai csángó népzene és régi zene -". www.koboz.hu.
  4. "The Romanian Cobza". Campin.me.uk. 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  5. Viorel Cosma (1960), Figuri de Lautari, Musical Printing House, Bucharest, p. 230
  6. "Jewish Musicians in Moldavia". www.dinayekapelye.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  7. Mizynec, V. - Folk Instruments of Ukraine. Bayda Books, Melbourne, Australia, 1987 - 48с.
  8. "The Stringed Instrument Database: Index". stringedinstrumentdatabase.aornis.com.