Gaida

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The gaida (also spelled "gajda") is a bagpipe from South Eastern Europe (The Balkans). It is played throughout Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, and Greece primarily. Cousins of this instrument are found throughout the Balkans in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey.

Contents

[edit] Instrument parts

[edit] Bag

This consists of a bag made out of goat or sheep hide that is airtight. Different regions have different ways of treating the skin. The simplest methods involve just the use of salt, while more complex treatments involve milk, flour, and the removal of hair. The bag is the reservoir that supplies the pipes with air. When this bag is squeezed under the player's arm, air is forced through the reeds of the pipes, creating sound. The stocks into which the chanters and blowpipe and drone fit are called "glavini" (главини) in Bulgarian. These can be made out of Cornel wood (дрян) or animal horn.

[edit] Blow pipe

This is a short, conical wooden or bone tube in which the player blows to refill the bag. At the end of the blow pipe that is within the bag, there is a small valve of leather or felt that allows air into the bag via the blow pipe but not back out.

An elderly Greek gentleman playing the Greek gaida
Enlarge
An elderly Greek gentleman playing the Greek gaida

[edit] Chanters

These are the pipes that play the melody.

[edit] Reeds (lemellas)

Each chanter is fitted with a reed made from reed (arundo donax), bamboo, or elder. The reed is fitted into the end of the chanter that goes into the bag. The reed itself is a round tube plugged at one end with cork, wax or the natural walls of the reed. The other end is open and a tongue is cut that vibrates when air is passed through. The end of the reed is wrapped in string to create an airtight seal when inserted into the chanter. The length of the reed that protrudes from the chanter determines the chanter's tuning, and can be adjusted by sliding it in or out. The wrapping is traditionally lubricated with suet, although the same cork grease used for clarinets also works fine. If the reeds don't sound properly, the notch cut in the open end of the reed can be tightened closer to the tube part of the reed, using a rubber band to create a narrower gap.

[edit] Melody chanter (gaidunitza)

This is a smaller tube (chanter) with a conical bore (in Bulgaria), cylindrical bore (in Macedonia and other regions), made from boxwood (shimshir) cornel wood, plum wood or other fruit wood. It has 8 holes in it: the top four are covered by the thumb and first three fingers of the left hand, then the four fingers of the right hand cover the remaining four holes. An important feature of the gaida's chanter (which it shares with a number of other Eastern European bagpipes) is the "flea-hole" (also known as a mumbler or voicer) which is covered by the index finger of the left hand. The flea-hole is smaller than the rest and usually consists of a small tube that is made out of metal or a chicken or duck feather. Uncovering the flea-hole raises any note played by a half step, and it is used in creating the musical ornamentation that gives Balkan music its unique character.

[edit] Drone

This pipe is a long, three-piece tube. It has no fingerholes, unlike the melody chanter, since it only plays one note, a "drone". This note is normally lower than those played by the melody chanter (because it is longer and its reed is twice as big).

[edit] Tsambouna

The tsambouna resembles a bagpipe with single reeds, consisting of two parallel cylindrical tubes (made out of carefully selected cane) inserted into a single block of wood through a horn-shaped opening. The bag is made out of kid which after a certain process well known to the players of tsambouna, is turned inside-out and made waterproof and leakproof. This process involves the use of chemicals as well as natural materials, such as honey, milk, and oil. This type of bagpipe is morphologically similar to the instrument found in Crete and others seen in the Balkans and the Middle East. However, the way in which the notes are produced is more unusual and, in fact, unique to the Dodecanese tsambouna.

As such, it cannot be classified among either bagpipes with a fixed drone nor those which are solely melodic. In fact, the right pipe completes the hexatonic scale and can, at the same time, find itself in unison with the second degree of the scale, thus covering both melodic and accompaniment functions. The tsampouna’s tuning system possesses qualities which are completely particular, of which the most obvious is the tonal "ambiguity" of the third degree (in relation to the lowest note of the scale).

Given its restrictive characteristics, the tsambouna is a difficult instrument to master, requiring considerable skill to make it musically interesting. In particular, it is necessary to make the bitonal patterns created with the second pipe moving and interesting. These patterns, such as those produced by the trills obtained with the left first finger (index,,sixth degree), can create separate acoustic images and more complex rhythmic structures. A similar technique is employed with the lyra through use of trills and tremolos produced by the left fifth finger. Because of the difficulties entailed in playing, pitch and upkeep, the tsambouna is not a widespread instrument, and not even in Karpathos. It is so beautiful of an instrument to hear though, that it excites the listener and introduces a sense of enthusiasm and livelihood in a glendi.

Today, good performers are to be found mostly in Olymbos, but many are scattered around the globe also including the island of Rhodes, Athens, Piraeus, and the United States. Those performers are in great demand, invited to play in other villages for the most important festivities. In Olymbos, tsambouna continues to play a primordial role in cultural life.

[edit] Related instruments

The gaida has many cousins, some of which can be found here. Some of these related instruments are:

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