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2014Europa - Folk Instruments - Set

Set
GBP £1.23
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Set
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Sheetlets
GBP £24.70
First Day Cover
GBP £1.59
Technical details
  • 09.05.2014
  • Sabina Rešić, painter and designer, Zagreb
  • -
  • Zrinski - Čakovec
  • Multicolor Offset Printing
  • 4 Colours
  • 35,5 x 29,82 mm
  • 0.41, 0.99
Thematics
About Europa - Folk Instruments

Lijerica (ljerica, lirica, lira orvijalo) is a three-string instrument, which according to the opinion of some ethnomusicologists originates from Greece, wherefrom it was spread to the Adriatic area and some other parts of the Balkan Peninsula. Time ago spread along the Adriatic coast (all the way up to the island of Cres and Istrian coast), it is today in use only in the area of Dubrovnik littoral, Župa dubrovačka, Konavli, in the peninsula of Pelješac, on islands of Mljet and Lastovo and in the Croat-inhabited regions of Eastern Herzegovina.
The body (or sound box) and the neck are pear-shaped, made of one piece of maple wood or nut wood. The hollow body is covered with thin board, and on top of it there are three strings across which the bow is pulled (the so called arket). The strings have specific names: kantin – first string on which it is played, sekondo – second string with the lowest tune and the baš (bass) – third string tuned for the whole tone lower than the first string kantin. This means: if the first string is tuned to the tone G, then the middle one is C (it is lower quinta in relation to the first string), and the last tone is F (the quarta in relation to the middle string). Once, there were also other ways of tuning lijerica, but with time they disappeared.
The player of lierica, called lieričar, holds the instrument in vertical position reclined against the left knee and plays it accompanying the dance, while tapping rhythm with the leg. Sometimes, while playing, the player also used to sing or accompany the singers. There are several ways of playing lijerica depending on the way of bow pulling across the strings and the rhythmic template of the dance.
Lijerica is a prototype form of a modern violin and belongs to the instrument family which the Germans called Leier, and the Latins vielle. Instruments akin to lijerica are Macedonian ćemene, Bulgarian gadulka and Cretan lyre. The best known Croatian lijerica player was Nikola Lale Linđo from Župa dubrovačka after whose nickname (Linđo) also a Dubrovnik traditional dance is known.

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