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The ''kanklės'' () is a Lithuanian
plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the string (music), strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to ...
(
chordophone In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...
) belonging to the
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery, along with the Latvian '' kokles'', Estonian '' kannel'', Finnish '' kantele'', and Russian '' gusli''.


Etymology

According to Finnish linguist Eino Nieminen, the name of the instrument, along with the names of most of its neighbouring counterparts (Latvian ''kokles'', Finnish ''kantele'', Estonian ''kannel'' and Livonian ''kāndla''), possibly comes from the
proto-Baltic Proto-Baltic (PB, PBl, Common Baltic) is the Attested language, unattested, Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed ancestral proto-language of all Baltic languages. It is not attested in writing, but has been partly reconstructed through the com ...
form ''*kantlīs''/''*kantlēs'', which originally meant 'the singing tree', most likely deriving from the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
root ''*qan-'' ('to sing, to sound'; cf. Latin "canto, cantus, canticum", Italian "cantare", French "chanter", English "chant, cantor"). A Lithuanian ethnologist Romualdas Apanavičius believes ''Kanklės'' could be derived from the Proto-European root ''*gan(dh)-'', meaning 'a vessel; a haft (of a sword)', suggesting that it may be related to the Russian word ''gusli''.


Construction

Although kanklės vary both regionally and individually, there are some common characteristics in their construction. Kanklės belong to the zither family, which means that their strings are parallel to the soundboard (not perpendicular, like in a harp) and do not extend beyond it (not like in e.g. a guitar, where they extend to the neck). The body of the kanklės is made from one
trapezoid In geometry, a trapezoid () in North American English, or trapezium () in British English, is a quadrilateral that has at least one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the ''bases'' of the trapezoid. The other two sides are ...
al piece of
linden tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Bri ...
, ash tree,
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
,
maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
or black alder, which is hollowed out to create a cavity. A thin sheet of
softwood Scots pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main differences between hardwoods and softwoods is that the sof ...
(usually
spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...
) is used to make a soundboard, which covers the body. Soundholes, which traditionally take the shape of a stylized flower or star, are cut into the soundboard, allowing sound to project outward. At the narrowest side of the body, a metal bar is attached to which the strings made of wire or gut are anchored. The opposite ends of the strings are attached to a row of tuning pegs inserted into holes at the opposite side of the body. Kanklės is usually rested on the player's lap and played with the fingers or a pick made of bone or quill.


History

According to Birutė Žalalienė, psaltery, coming from Western Europe, could have been used in Lithuania to accompany church singing since the 15th century, and later in folk music in
Lithuania Minor Lithuania Minor (; ; ) or Prussian Lithuania (; ; ) is one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is a historical region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians (or Lietuvininkai) lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Obla ...
and
Samogitia Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see Samogitia#Etymology and alternative names, below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five ...
. The word "kanklės" is first used in writing in 1580 by Jonas Bretkūnas in his Bible translation. Vincas Kudirka published two collections of folk songs adapted for choirs, titled ''Kanklės'', in 1895 and 1898. In 1906, Pranas Puskunigis established an ensemble of kanklės players, mostly from the students at the Veiveriai Teachers' Seminary, in . This ensemble, known simply as "Kanklės" since 1984, continues to this day. A school for kanklės players was opened in 1930 in
Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...
. Kanklės are taught at the
Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre The Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania, is a state-supported College or university school of music, conservatory that trains students in music, theatre, and multimedia arts. History Composer Juozas Naujalis founded a ...
since 1945. Concert kanklės were first constructed in 1964.


Types

Apanavičius classifies the kanklės into three basic traditional types, although there are variations within each type and some overlap of areas. Each type has its own playing technique. * Kanklės of Northeastern Aukštaitians: the simplest and most ancient form. Carved out of a single piece of wood into a boat or coffin shape. * Kanklės of Western Aukštaitians and Samogitians: somewhat larger than those of Northeastern Aukštaitija, usually having between eight and twelve strings. They have a flat bottom, and in some cases, the shortest end is carved with the stylized figure of a bird's or fish's tail. * Kanklės of Northwestern Samogitians and Suvalkians: usually the most decorated type, and kanklės used in concert performance are most often based on this variety. The most prominent identifying feature is the addition of a carved spiral figure to the point of the instrument's body and sometimes, the rounding of the narrow end of the body. Typically these instruments have between nine and thirteen strings. Concert kanklės, with an expanded range of more than four octaves (29 strings, C3-C7) and added chromaticism, provided by means of metal levers at the side of the instrument, similar to the ones used in a Celtic or lever harp, were constructed in 1964 by P. Kupčikas following the design of P. Stepulis and D. Mataitienė. In the 1960s they followed the lead of Latvian concert kokles which had first been constructed in 1951.


References


Bibliography

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External links


Lithuanian stringed instrument kanklės


{{DEFAULTSORT:Kankles Baltic psaltery Lithuanian musical instruments