Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: GUEST,Mike guest Bournemouth.
Date: 08 Apr 13 - 04:30 AM

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 08:53 PM

Ken Bloom used to play one. It had 36 strings. You might get a hold of him in North Carolina(?).

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: GUEST,Mike Bournemouth
Date: 24 Nov 12 - 08:04 PM

I first heard a bandura being played in Vancouver Canada where there is a large Ukrainian population as there is in Pennsylvania US. They have some wonderful choirs over the pond led by bandurists...similar to our Welsh or Cornish men. Look up The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus. There is plenty of stuff on Youtube too and I think they have a wonderful sound.
I'm no expert on banduras but I bought a concert one with 61 strings 20yrs ago, found I didn't have time to learn it so put it aside as a Retirement Project. That time came 3 mths ago and I've been emailing all over the world for help. I've had info from OZ, Kyiv in Ukraine with 5-6 photos from inside of the factory where mine was made. I need some help and the only guy I have found that plays one lives in London over 100m away from my home on the South Coast...too far for me to travel. There are 12-18 Groups affiliated to The Ukrainian Community in UK but they are in London or further North.
I have contacted local Uni's, Colleges, English Language Schools, Music schools, firms who 'translate, in a hope of contacting a Ukrainian helper. I have put and advert in a Russian grocery store and the other helpful guys are local music shops all of whom have offered to put a notice on their board for me....but they have never heard of them.

I have looked for them being sold on ebay and have contacted the sellers but they have nothing written in English and most are being sold because the seller can't play 'em.
If any Mudcatter can help pl call me on. [e-mail]
Ta.

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: GUEST,I sell old banduras from Ukraine
Date: 15 Sep 11 - 07:38 AM

My name is Mike.

I have for sale a couple of 55strings banduras with their cases and even passports. They both were produced in 1988 in Ukraine.

my contact email is [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: GUEST,ABanduraGuy
Date: 03 Nov 10 - 12:44 AM

Hi - yeah I run 3 of those ensembles you listed in a post above:
Hryhory Kytasty Bandurist Ensemble
Vodohray Bandura Ensemble - Adelaide
S.o.V - Adelaide
and have been playing and teaching the instrument in Adelaide for 16 years or so.
- if you want info about banduras email me at
[e-mail]
or
[e-mail]
would be happy to point you in some direction.
Kush

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jun 10 - 07:50 AM

Eva's instrument was hand made by Sergei Pavlechenko from Ukraine:)

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: GUEST,bailybear
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 08:44 PM

Anyone...
   What is the value of one of these? The discription that phjim gave, fits what I have. Very good condition. Any ideas about selling it?

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: Tangledwood
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 09:00 PM

Thanks Meself, checking the ensembles sounds a good idea. When searching for Fedir Deriazhny there are numerous hits, all being exactly the same as the wiki entry.

How horrendous the Stalin era must have been.

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: PHJim
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 04:32 PM

My bandurria was made in the Phillipines. It has an amazingly short neck and 14 strings arranged in 6 courses of 1,2,2,3,3,3 from treble to bass. I have it tuned an octave above a guitar, but this isn't standard tuning.

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 02:27 PM

No typo. I found all kinds of stuff except a musical instrument (including Google wanting to correct my spelling). Maybe I gave up too soon, but I did know of an instrument called a "bandurria," so that's where I went.

Later, I plowed through some of the "bandura" listings and found the Ukrainian instrument (off-set neck, strings over the soundboard), and apparently something along that order is fairly popular in the Philippines.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: meself
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 08:12 AM

Tangledwood: Google suggests that the following phrase appears in the Wiki article - but I can't find it: "A Kharkiv-style bandura made by Fedir Deriazhny in Australia ... "

The Wiki article would suggest that there are more bandura-makers in the West than in Ukraine, due to the suppression of the instrument and its players under Stalin (how do you like this one: "In recent years significant evidence has come to light that an ethnographic conference for bandurists, specifically for blind kobzars and lirnyks, was organised in Kharkiv in December 1933 which was attended by an estimated 300 blind musicians who were subsequently executed.")

Wiki lists a number Australian bandura ensembles, by name only. I would start with them if I were looking to buy a bandura in Australia:

Hnat Khotkevych Bandurist Ensemble
Lesia Ukrainka Bandurist Ensemble
Hryhory Kytasty Bandurist Ensemble
Vodohray Bandura Ensemble - Adelaide
S.o.V - Adelaide
Mykola Lysenko Bandurist Ensemble
Lastivka
Koloryt


oldhippie: I don't know where you are, but similarly, you might want to find the closest bandura ensemble and make a few inquiries ...

I've never played one, but it's a wonderful instrument.

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: oldhippie
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 07:37 AM

Thanks, Tangledwood, for the links.

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: Tangledwood
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 04:14 AM

Ooops, most of those 39000 were shoes, or company names, or something else with nothing to do with music.

However, here's more from wiki

from there a link to Trembita who claims to be the only Ukrainian manufacturer (implying there might be somebody outside of Ukraine?)

and their models

You'll probably need a translator such as the google toolbar to read the last two pages.

Subject: RE: Bandura (stringed instrument) - who makes them?
From: Tangledwood
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 03:20 AM

The bandura is a Ukrainian instrument so I guess you should be looking there for a manufacturer. Wikipedia mentions one here

A friend of mine owns three but one that I had a go on had no manufacturers marks that I noticed.

Don, a typo when you searched maybe? I got over 39000 hits on google and there are a number of clips on You Tube. I find it a very interesting instrument but haven't seen any for sale in Australia since I've become interested.

Subject: RE: Bandura - who makes them?
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 09:41 PM

Hmm . . . I can't find anything under that spelling on the internet.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Bandura - who makes them?
From: oldhippie
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 09:11 PM

This is different, look at the wikipedia image. The neck is offset and there are additional strings on the body.

Subject: RE: Bandura - who makes them?
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 05:47 PM

I believe that's "Bandurria."

A similar, but larger instrument is the "Laûd"

I've seen them listed in the Lark in the Morning website and catalog. All kinds of odd-ball and exotic instruments from all over the world. I've never dealt with them myself, but I have a friend who is not real fond of them. She refers to them as "Shark in the Morning."

So caveat emptor

Good hunting.

Don Firth

Subject: Bandura - who makes them?
From: oldhippie
Date: 11 Mar 10 - 04:55 PM

Eva of "Dark Patrick" plays a neat stringed instrument called a bandura. Anyone know a good manufacturer?