The lijerica () is a musical instrument from the region of Dalmatia and Croat parts of East Herzegovina. It is a pear-shaped, three-stringed instrument which is played with a bow. It is played to accompany the traditional linđo dance from the region.
While the lijerica is most often associated with traditional folk music, it is still found in modern music from the region. One artist who is notable for his use of the instrument is Mate Bulić.
Origins
The lijerica is closely related to the bowed musical instrument
Byzantine lyra (
lūrā) of the
Byzantine Empire, an ancestor of most European bowed instruments and equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time. The
Persian people geographer
Ibn Khordadbeh (d. 911) of the 9th century, in his lexicographical discussion of instruments, cited the
Byzantine lyra as a typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the
urghun (organ),
shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre) and the
salandj.
[Margaret J. Kartomi: On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, University of Chicago Press, 1990] The
Byzantine lyra spread through Europe westward; in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms
fiddle and
lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments.
["lira." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 28 Feb] Over the centuries that followed, Europe continued to have two distinct types of bowed instruments: one, relatively square-shaped, held in the arms, became known as the lira da braccio (
arm viol) family; the other, with sloping shoulders and held between the knees, was the lira da gamba (
leg viol) group. During the
Renaissance the gambas, were important and elegant instruments; they eventually lost ground to the louder (and originally less aristocratic)
lira da braccio family.
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