Kusle ( Meadow Mari: ''кӱсле'', Northwestern Mari: ''кӹсле'' or ''кӹслӓ'') or karsh (

Meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

and Northwestern Mari: ''кӓрш'') is a Mari plucked string instrument (

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 ...

). It has 12-20 strings and is shaped like a semi-circle. The instrument is played in the lap, with both hands, and was played on some occasions such as ritual sacrifices, and to accompany dancing. Kusle is described as resembling the Russian

gusli ''Gusli'' ( rus, гусли, p=ˈɡuslʲɪ) is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Ru ...

or the Finnish

kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuania ...

. Organologist Anthony Baines noted in 1969, regarding the medieval Russian

: ''...and the instrument has latterly been revived, notably in the Mari province by the Volga''.

References

Baltic psaltery Mari musical instruments {{Zither-instrument-stub

See also

References