The tambouras ( el, ταμπουράς ) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

traditional

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 ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

origin. It has existed since at least the 10th century, when it was known in

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. At that time, it might have between two and six strings, but Arabs adopted it, and called it a

Tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...

. The characteristic long neck bears two strings, tuned five notes apart. It also similar to the Turkish ''tambur'' and each of them have same origin. Tanbur, a Persian word, according to some scholars taken from Sumerian ‘Pan Tur, meaning “Little bow”.

History

Origins

It is considered that the ''tambouras ancestor is the ancient Greek ''pandouris'', also known as ''

pandoura The pandura ( grc, πανδοῦρα, ''pandoura'') or pandore, an ancient string instrument, belonged in the broad class of the lute and guitar instruments. Akkadians played similar instruments from the 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Greek artwork d ...

'', ''pandouros'' or ''pandourida'' (πανδουρίς, πανδούρα, πάνδουρος), from which the word is derived. The ''tambouras'' is mentioned in the Byzantine epic of

Digenis Akritas ''Digenes Akritas'', ) is a variant of ''Akritas''. Sometimes it is further latinized as ''Acritis'' or ''Acritas''. ( el, Διγενῆς Ἀκρίτας, ) is the most famous of the Acritic songs and is often regarded as the only surviving epic ...

, when the hero plays his θαμπούριν, ''thambourin'' (medieval form of ''tambouras''):

Name

The name resembles that of the Indian ''

tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...

'', but the Greek ''tambouras'' is a completely different instrument. Since

modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

words do not have a standard transliteration into the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

, the word may be found written in many ways: ''tampouras'', ''tambouras'', ''tabouras'', ''taburas'' etc. Even the final -s may be dropped at the transliteration, since it marks the masculine nominative in Greek. Variations of the word are to be found in Greece: ''tsambouras'', ''tambouri''. The word ταμπουράς comes from Turkish ''

tambur The ''tambur'' (spelled in keeping with TDK conventions) is a fretted string instrument of Turkey and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. Like the ney, the armudi (lit. pear-shaped) kemençe and the kudüm, it constitutes one of the fou ...

'' from Arabic ''ṭanbūr'' or Persian ''tunbūra''.

Type

The ''tambouras'' is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, close to Turkish '' saz'' and the Persian ''

tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...

''. It has movable frets that permit playing tunes in the Greek traditional modes (equivalent of the ''makams'' of

Arabic music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...

and the ''ichoi'' of Byzantine music). It was also known as Pandouris, Pandoura and Fandouros in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. When the ''tambouras'' was tempered, it gave rise to the ''

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

'', which is, in fact, a recent development of the ''tambouras''.

Gallery

Image:Greek musical instruments.jpg, Display of Greek tamboura at the right (the inst. left is a

). Image:Makriyannis tambouras.JPG

References

Notes

Sources

*Anogeianakis, Foivos. ''Ellinika Laika Mousika Organa''. Athens: Melissa, 1991 (2nd Edition). *Jeffreys, Elizabeth. ''Digenis Akritis. The Grottaferrata and Escorial Versions''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. *Grapsas, Nikos. ''Tambouras. Methodos Didaskalias''. Athens: Nikolaidis, 2007. {{Greek musical instruments Greek musical instruments String instruments