The Mazanki is a type of Slavic
folk musical instrument that belongs to a group of
idiophones or
string instrument
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 ...
s. They were particularly popular in regions of Poland
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...
and in
Lubusz Land and usually used along with
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
and/or
timpani. By the 20th century it was replaced by the
violin.
Construction
The Mazanki is similar in shape to the
violin, with the difference that it is smaller and has 3 or 5 strings that are tuned in fourths. The body and the neck are made of one piece of wood, and the
soundboard is slightly raised. The bridge is the most characteristic element of the instrument as one of its feet is longer than the other and going through the E-whole in the top it touches the bottom of the instrument and in this way replaces the sound post.
Technique for playing
The sound producing technique is also a little different from the modern violin technique. the performer, instead of using a regular bow, moves the strings with a tight rubber band tied to the ends of a wooden stick. To make the rubber band less slippery folk musicians will sometimes rub it with regular
rosin or with a substance made of white flour mixed with honey and chopped walnuts.
References
{{Polish musical instruments
Polish folklore
Idiophones