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The ģīga or divstīdzis is a two-stringed
Folklora.lv
The ģīga or divstīdzis is a two-stringed bowed
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to th ...
zither
Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
found in Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
.
The instrument is descended from the psalmodicon
The psalmodicon (psalmodikon or salmodikon) is a stringed musical instrument; the most common variants have a single string. It was developed in Scandinavia for simplifying music in churches and schools, and as an alternative to the fiddle for ...
( lv, vienstīdzis or ''manihorka''), a bowed monochord
A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string ( chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument h ...
developed in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in 1829 for liturgical singing. From there it filtered down to the Latvian peasantry who sometimes added a second string for harmony.Folklora.lv
See also
*Giga
Giga ( or ) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or ). It has the symbol G.
''Giga'' is derived from the Greek word (''gígas''), meaning "giant". The ''Oxford English Dic ...
, a type of bowed lyre
*Fiðla
The ''Icelandic fiddle'' (Icelandic: fiðla fɪðla is a traditional Icelandic instrument that can be described as a box with two brass strings which is played with a bow. The strings stretch across one end of the box to the other where they ...
, a bowed zither native to Iceland
Sources
Folklora.lv
References
Latvian musical instruments Bowed box zithers {{zither-instrument-stub