Irish Bouzouki
Ita
Il bouzouki irlandese è uno strumento musicale irlandese, appartenente ai cordofoni, derivato dal bouzouki greco tetrachordo e utilizzato nella musica folk dell’Europa settentrionale.
Storia
L’originale bouzouki greco (detto anche “trichordo”) è uno strumento a tre corde doppie affine al Saz turco che, condividendo caratteristiche costruttive di entrambe le tipologie, si pone a metà strada tra la famiglia del liuto e quella del mandolino. Dopo la seconda guerra mondiale è stata messa a punto una nuova versione dello strumento con quattro corde doppie detto “tetràchordo”.
Nel 1969 Andy Irvine tornò da un viaggio nei paesi dell’est europa portando con sé un bouzouki tetràchordo che regalò al suo amico e collega Dònal Lunny. Lunny cambiò le corde dello strumento accoppiando corde all’unisono anziché su ottave diverse come era in uso in Grecia. Irvine e Lunny iniziarono a far conoscere lo strumento modificato quando nel 1972 entrarono nei Planxty.
Normalmente Irvine, Lunny e gli altri esponenti del folk irlandese attribuiscono l’introduzione del bouzouki in Irlanda a Johnny Moynihan del popolare gruppo folk Sweeney’s Men che iniziò ad utilizzare un bouzouki nei propri arrangiamenti già dalla metà degli anni sessanta. Per migliorare la sonorità in favore dell’utilizzo come contrappunto al violino e altri strumenti irlandesi venne presto modificato l’originale corpo a doghe in favore di una struttura a fondo piatto più simile a quello di una chitarra acustica ed una forma del corpo a goccia molto più ampia e adatta alle frequenze più basse delle corde accoppiate all’unisono.
Accordatura
L’accordatura considerata “standard” per il bouzouki irlandese è (partendo dalle corde più basse) SOL RE LA RE ma è molto utilizzata anche l’accordatura SOL RE LA MI, la medesima utilizzata per il mandolino e il violino.
Eng
The Irish bouzouki (Irish: búsúcaí) is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek tetrachordo bouzouki (4 courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of the folk group Sweeney’s Men, who retuned it from its traditional Greek tuning C³F³A³D⁴ to G²D³A³D⁴, a tuning he had pioneered previously on the mandolin. Alec Finn, first in the Cana Band and subsequently in De Dannan, introduced the first Greek trichordo (3 course) bouzouki into Irish music.
In the early 1970s, Andy Irvine, who was a member of Sweeney’s Men with Johnny Moynihan, gave a Greek tetrachordo bouzouki to Dónal Lunny, who replaced the octave strings on the two lower G and D courses with unison strings, thus reinforcing their lower frequencies. Soon after, on a visit with Irvine to the workshop of luthier Peter Abnett, Lunny commissioned a four-course bouzouki with a three-piece, partially staved back. This was the first bouzouki built specifically for Irish music. Since then, the instrument has been adapted by many instrument builders for Irish traditional and other styles of folk music.
Present role in Irish music
With a few exceptions, instrumentalists playing the bouzouki in Irish music tend to use it less for virtuoso melodic work, and more for the chordal or contrapuntal accompaniment, the melodies being played on other instruments, such as the flute or fiddle. A few individuals though, have pioneered the bouzouki’s application for melodic work, including such players as Pat Kilbride, Brian McNeill, Jamie McMenemy, Gerald Trimble, Roger Landes, and others.
Development
The original Greek bouzouki is a three course / six-string instrument (trichordo) tuned D3−A3−D4 (with an octave pair on the lower course). In the 1950s, a four course / eight-string (tetrachordo) version was developed in Greece, tuned C3−F3−A3−D4 (with octave pairs on the C and F courses) and popularized by Manolis Hiotis. The modern tetrachordo bouzouki was noticed by Irish musicians, who adopted and adapted it for accompaniment in Irish folk music, from whence it has diffused into other folk genres.
Transport from Greece to Ireland
Johnny Moynihan is credited with bringing the first tetrachordo Greek bouzouki to Ireland and retuning it to G2−D3−A3−D4 (intervals he had first used on the mandolin). However, according to Leagues O’Toole, Moynihan bought his first bouzouki from his friend Tony Ffrench, who had brought it back to Ireland from Greece, but decided he couldn’t play it, or didn’t want to.
In the mid-1960s, Moynihan established a presence for the instrument in Irish music with the popular folk trio Sweeney’s Men. During the recording of their 1968 eponymous album, Sweeney’s Men, Andy Irvine also played Moynihan’s bouzouki on the track “Johnston”.
Shortly after he returned from Eastern Europe in late 1969, Irvine met Dónal Lunny – who had been playing guitar up to that point – and gave him a Greek bouzouki he had brought back from his travels. Being left-handed, Lunny reversed the strings and, crucially, replaced the octave strings on the two lowest courses with unison strings, thus fundamentally changing the character of the instrument.
A year or so later, Lunny accompanied Irvine to Peter Abnett’s workshop and commissioned a partially staved-back instrument with the similar specifications, thus the Irish bouzouki was born. This modified bouzouki became fully integrated into Irish folk music when Irvine and Lunny popularized it with the advent of Planxty in 1972.
Irvine, however, credits Moynihan with having “brought the bouzouki to Ireland” in his lyric to “O’Donoghue’s,” his memoir of his experience of the early folk revival days in Dublin in the early ’60s. In a parallel development, Alec Finn, later with the Galway-based traditional group De Dannan, obtained a Greek trichordo bouzouki on his own.
