A hybrid instrument of the Ukraine combining elements of a lute and box zither, possibly derived from the 10th century Arabic and Persian pandura and the kobuz of the Kipchak and Polovtsian peoples. It has a short neck, a shallow oval wooden body and a resonating hole on the upper soundboard (see illustration). There may be a varying number of strings; four to eight bass (buntī) strings on the neck, plucked by the left hand, and between seven and thirty metal strings (pidstrunki, tuned chromatically) across the soundboard, plucked by the right hand. Older examples are tuned diatonically.
The bandura (also known as the kobza until the end of the 19th century) was widely used by the Cossacks during the 16th and 17th centuries. The performers, called banduristī or kobzari, were itinerant singer-instrumentalists who used the bandura to accompany the epic dumī, historical songs, ballads and other forms. The instrument was also adopted by the Polish gentry. The bandura was taught by traditional players, who were often blind. The instrument is now taught at state-run institutions and alto, bass and contrabass banduras have been developed for ensemble performances of folkloric music.
A.S. Famintsīn: Domra i srodnīye yey muzīkal'nīye instrumentī russkogo naroda [The domra and related musical instruments of the Russian people] (St Petersburg, 1891/R)
A. Baines, ed.: Musical Instruments through the Ages (Harmondsworth, 1961/R, 2/1966/R)
A. Gumenyuk: Ukraīns'ki narodni muzichni instrumenti [Ukrainian folk instruments] (Kiev, 1967)
A. Buchner: Folk Music Instruments of the World (London, 1971)
SOFIA HRYTSA