Irish bouzouki

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The Irish bouzouki (colloquially, the "zouk") is a derivative of the Greek bouzouki.

The bouzouki, in the newer tetraxordo (four course/eight string) Greek version, was introduced into Irish Traditional Music in the late 1960s, by Johnny Moynihan, and popularised by Andy Irvine and later Dónal Lunny. In a separate but parallel development Alec Finn, later with the Galway-based traditional group De Dannan, obtained a trixordo (three course/six string) Greek bouzouki on his own. Irish bouzouki players tend to use the instrument less for virtuoso melodic work and more for chordal and contrapuntal accompaniment for tunes played on other instruments, such as the flute or fiddle; in response, many or most players changed the octave strings in the two bass courses to unison pairs in order to enhance the bass response of the instrument and to make it sound, perhaps, less "oriental".

Within a few years of the bouzouki's adoption in Ireland the Greek bouzouki began to be replaced by a design built specifically for Irish traditional music. The body was was widened and in most cases a flat back with straight sides replaced the round, stave-built back of the Greek bouzouki (or in the case of English builder Peter Abnett, possibly the second to build a uniquely "Irish" bouzouki, a hybrid design with a 3-piece arched back and straight sides). All of the initial Irish bouzoukis had flat tops, but within a few years some builders began experimenting with carved, arched tops taking their cue from American archtop guitars and mandolins.

Hardly anyone uses the Greek bouzouki for Irish music today; Alec Finn and Mick Conneely are the only professionals of any consequence who use them.

The G2D3A3D4 tuning, first pioneered by Johnny Moynihan on the mandolin and then adapted to the Greek bouzouki, was picked up by Irvine and Lunny quickly became the next thing to a "standard tuning" for the Irish bouzouki. A smaller group uses A2D3A3D4. Although some players employ mandolin tuning, pitched down an octave as G2D3A3E4, they are very much in the minority. A few players use octave pairing on the two bass courses. Ironically, the Irish tunings are closer to the D3A3D4 tuning of the original Greek trixordo bouzouki than are the guitar-like tunings used on the more modern Greek tetraxordo, and lend themselves particularly well to a modal harmonic approach for Irish traditional music. The Irish bouzouki has become fully integrated into the tradition over the past thirty years, usually (although not always) playing accompaniment (mostly a mix of two note chords, basslines, and bits of countermelody) rather than the melody.

Amongst some luthiers and musicians the Irish bouzouki is considered to be part of the mandolin family, the other instruments of which include the mandolin, mandola (called "tenor mandola" in Europe), octave mandolin ("octave mandola" in Europe), and mandocello. But for others this family of instruments, modeled on and tuned like the violin, viola, tenor violin and violoncello, is really part of another tradition from which the Greek bouzouki, and its progeny the Irish bouzouki, are separate. At any rate, since the genesis of the Irish bouzouki in the 1960s, many luthiers have incorporated aspects of mandolin construction, particularly when building archtop Irish bouzoukis, so for most it is moot point.

The octave mandolin is usually regarded as having a shorter scale length than the Irish bouzouki, in the vicinity of 20 to 23 inches (50 and 58.4cm), whilst the scale length of the Irish bouzouki most often ranges from 23 to 25 inches (58.4 and 63.5cm), although some instruments have scales as long as 26 or even 27 inches (66 to 68.7cm). These longer instruments are generally acknowledged to possess greater volume, sustain, and tonal richness but some players find the stretches involved in fingering too difficult and so prefer the shorter scales.

The name "cittern" is sometimes applied to a similar instrument of five courses (ten strings), typically having a scale length between 20 and 22 inches (500mm and 550mm), but they are often called "10 string bouzoukis", particularly when having a longer scale length. The fifth course is usually either a lowest bass course tuned to C2 or D2 on a longer scaled instrument or a highest treble tuned to G4 or A4 on a shorter one.

However, for some builders and players, the terms "bouzouki", "cittern", and "octave mandolin" are synonymous. Others, such as Stefan Sobell, who originated the "cittern" term for his instruments derived from crossing an archtop Martin guitar with a Portuguese guitarra, apply the name of "cittern" to all shorter scaled instruments, irrespective of whether these have four or five courses, and the name of "bouzouki" to all longer scaled instruments.

[edit] External links

• Andy Irvine
• Roger Landes best known exponent of Irish bouzouki in the US.
• ZoukFest international gathering devoted to the Irish bouzouki.
• Beth Patterson, a world-renowned Irish and Celtic musician

[edit] Further reading

• O'Callanain, Niall (1997). The Irish Bouzouki. United States: Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 0-7866-1595-8.  — An instructional guide
• Richards, Tobe A. (2005). The Irish Bouzouki Chord Bible: GDAD Irish Tuning 2,447 Chords. United Kingdom: Cabot Books. ISBN 0-9553944-0-6.  — A comprehensive chord dictionary.
• McLeod, Zan (2001). Learn to Play the Irish Bouzouki (DVD). United States: Music Sales Limited. ASIN: B00024ONEI.  — A DVD instructional guide
• Loesberg, John (1989). Chords for Mandolin, Irish Banjo, Bouzouki. Rep. of Ireland: Random House. ISBN 0-946005-47-8.  — A chord book featuring 20 pages of popular chords.
• (2001) ZoukFest Instructional DVDs Vols. 1 & 2 (DVD). United States: ZoukFest World Music Camp. http://zoukfest.com/instructional.html.  — A DVD instructional guide in two volumes with short sections by 6 master players, each on a separate topic.

[edit] References