#langspil

Napi műhelykép: szép képek és hangok a tavaly készült langspilről/ből

http://www.musik.is/Paelingin/Langspil_and_Icelandic_Fidla.pdfContinuing with zither-type instruments in the monochord family...this is a langspil from Iceland, one of its two traditional instruments (the other being a  fiðla - a sort of fiddle).  This instrument is a whole lot like the Norwegian langeleik and apparently even more like a German scheitholt. (There are a bunch of instruments all in a very similar style that seem to have spread out and become variations on that theme). Like the langeleik in Norway, the langspil can by strummed or struck with a stick/plectrum, but it can also be plucked with the fingers and also played with a short bow. Like the langeleik though, it only has one melody string and any others are drones (there is no standard size and no standard number of string, but 3 is typical). The bridge is flat so the bow plays all the strings at once (like the Welsh crwth) but the player can only fret the melody note.

The history of the langspil in Iceland reminds me of the history of the Celtic harp (and several other trad instruments I’ve read about, doing this blog) in that because of religion, politics and changing times, at one point it had nearly died out but has been reclaimed and is being made again and played by people who want to reclaim their past culture, however there is no real written music and people now have little to guide them on how it was played historically.

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I wanted to add that if you are very interested in langspils (and the fiðla) and Iceland’s musical history, here is a great page to check out: