The trembita (from the

old Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

''trumba'', "to trumpet") is an

alpine horn The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the Alphorn was made of one single piece, or two parts ...

made of wood. It is common among Ukrainian highlanders

Hutsuls The Hutsuls (sometimes the spelling variant: Gutsuls; uk, Гуцули, translit=Hutsuly; pl, Huculi, Hucułowie; ro, huțuli) are an ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). They ...

who live in western Ukraine, eastern Poland, Slovakia, and northern Romania. In Poland it is known as a trombita (in the south), a bazuna (in the north), or a ligawka (in central Poland).

Description

A trembita was used primarily by mountain dwellers known as

and

Gorals The Gorals ( pl, Górale; Goral dialect: ''Górole''; sk, Gorali; Cieszyn Silesia dialect, Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also known as the Highlanders (in Poland as the Polish Highlanders) are an indigenous ethnographic or ethnic group primar ...

in the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

, it was used as a signaling device to announce deaths, funerals, weddings. The tube is made from a long straight piece of pine or

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

(preferably one that has been struck by lightning) which is split in two in order to carve out the core. The halves are once again joined together and then wrapped in

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

bark or osier rings. It is also used by shepherds for signaling and communication in the forested mountains and for guiding sheep and dogs. The ''trembita'' has a timbre that is much brighter than that of the

alpenhorn The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the Alphorn was made of one single piece, or two parts ...

due to its narrow bore and very minor flare. The trembita has no lateral openings and therefore gives the pure natural harmonic series of the open pipe. The upper harmonics are the more readily obtained by reason of the small diameter of the bore in relation to the length. The notes of the natural harmonic series overlap, but do not exactly correspond, to notes found in the familiar chromatic scale in standard Western

equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...

. Most prominently within the trembita's range, the 7th and 11th harmonics are particularly noticeable because they fall between adjacent notes in the chromatic scale. Harmonic Series

In the hands of a skilled composer or arranger, the natural harmonics can be used to haunting melancholy effect or, by contrast, to create a charming pastoral flavor. ZESPÓŁ

Modern use

Today trembita is often used in Ukrainian ethnographic ensembles and as an episodic instrument in the Ukrainian folk instrument orchestra. Trembita was shown on 2004 Eurovision Song Contest by the Ukrainian winner of the contest

Ruslana Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko ( uk, Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, ''Ruslana Lyzhychko''; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding ...

during her performance of the song "

Wild Dances "Wild Dances" is a single by Ukrainian singer-songwriter Ruslana. The song, representing , won the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 held in Istanbul with a score of 280 points. A Ukrainian-language version called "Dyki tantsi" () was released in Rus ...

Trembita is also used by Ukrainian band

ONUKA ONUKA (literally: ''granddaughter'') is a Ukrainian electro-folk band. It was created in 2013 by Ukrainian musicians Yevhen Filatov and Nata Zhyzhchenko. Other group members are Daryna Sert (keyboardist and backing vocalist), Mariya Sorokina (per ...

. The longest trombita (8,35 m) was made by Polish folk musician Józef Chmiel, located in the Czech Republic.

Similar instruments

Alphorn The alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a straight several-meter-long wooden natural horn of conical bore, with a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece. Traditionally the Alphorn was made of one single piece, or two parts ...

, used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and elsewhere *

Erke The erke (alternatively erque, coroneta, or quepa) is a large labrophone (lip reed) instrument native to the Gran Chaco of Bolivia, northern Chile, and Argentine Northwest. Construction The erke is composed of two or more lengths of cane joi ...

, a similar instrument of the

Argentine Northwest The Argentine Northwest (''Noroeste Argentino'') is a geographic and historical region of Argentina composed of the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. Geography The Argentine Northwest comprises v ...

Birch trumpet The birch trumpet (Norwegian: neverlur, Swedish: näverlur, Latvian: tās̆u taure, Lithuanian: ragas, daudytė, Finnish: tuohitorvi, Estonian: karjapasun) is a type of natural trumpet made of spruce covered with birch bark, known in Norway, S ...

, a similar instrument used in Norway, Sweden and the

Baltic region The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, mainly in Northern Europe. ...

Lur A lur, also lure or lurr, is a long natural blowing horn without finger holes that is played with a brass-type embouchure. Lurs can be straight or curved in various shapes. The purpose of the curves was to make long instruments easier to car ...

, native

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n term for

* Trâmbiță or Bucium, a type of alphorn used by mountain dwellers and by shepherds in Romania and Moldova

References

Sources

* * *
Demonstration of trembita performance

Mr Plyushko explains about trembita to students

Christmas call by trembitas

External links