The bandola is one of many varieties of small pear-shape

chordophone String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

s found in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. They are related to the

bandurria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...

and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Traditional varieties

Instruments known as ''bandola'' include: *Bandola llanera: traditionally built with only seven frets and four gut strings and played with a pick in the music of Joropo llanero, many bandolas being made nowadays can have up to 21 frets, with musicians such as Saúl Vera,

Moisés Torrealba Moisés Torrealba (born January 5, 1978) is a Venezuelan musician. Travel He has toured in countries including Norway, France, London, Spain, Brazil, Curaçao and Colombia. See also *Bandola *Venezuelan music Several styles of the tra ...

Franco Bortolotti and Mafer Bandola using these more extensively fretted versions. The strings used to string the bandola llanera nowadays are usually taken from classical guitar sets; most commonly the wound E and A, and the nylon G and B strings. The bandola is today undergoing a resurgence, with the instrument gaining popularity in both Venezuela and Colombia, as well as North America and Europe. The instrument was in danger of extinction in the first half of the 20th century until Anselmo Lopez (b.1934 Barinas Venezuela, d.2016 Barinas Venezuela) adapted techniques from the classical guitar, most famously the "segundeo", in order to give the instrument what is today considered to be its characteristic sound. The segundeo involves using the nails of the index or middle finger in an upward motion to clip one of the strings below the one being struck by the plectrum, producing a percussive sound. *Bandola andina colombiana: this instrument has six courses of strings in several different arrangements. It may have 12 strings in doubled courses, 14 strings with the first two courses tripled and the rest doubled, 16 strings with the first four courses tripled and the last two doubled, or 18 strings in triple courses. The instrument strongly resembles its ancestor, the Spanish

. This instrument resembles the Mexican

bandolón A bandolón is a musical instrument from Mexico. It is a guitar sized instrument, resembling a flatback mandolin with 18 strings, arranged in 6 courses, three strings per course, and played with a pick. It is associated with the típica orquest ...

. *Bandola oriental: like the bandola llanera but with a deeper body and four double courses with eight strings in all, with both nylon and metal strings. *Bandola guayanesa: played in Venezuela's

Guayana Region The Guayana Region is an administrative region of eastern Venezuela. History In the 1970s, after the process of forming the Political-Administrative Regions through CORDIPLAN in the government of Rafael Caldera, the Region of Guyana was f ...

, with eight metal strings, paired in four courses. The instrument combines techniques of the oriental and llanera bandolas. *Bandola Andina or Bandola Aymara or Peruvian Bandola or Bolivian Bandola: These have 4 courses of triple, or sometimes quadruple strings.

Modern varieties

* Luís Alberto Paredes Rodríguez and Manuel Bernal Martínez build a range of bandola bajo ("bass bandola"). These instruments have 12 strings in six courses and a fanned fretboard."The Colombian Andean Bandola" by Luis Alberto Paredes Rodriguez and Manuel Bernal Martinez
American Lutherie #96
, 2008 * Some mandolin players convert their instruments to a bandola oriental by adding a fixed bridge and stringing with nylon strings.

References

{{Mandolin family instruments Mandolin family instruments Venezuelan musical instruments Colombian musical instruments