A night of entertainment at our friend Keti’s house, along with her super talented husband Bacho, here’s some clips of Bacho playing the panduri and salamuri, but before you watch the video, for those of you that dont know, here’s a little bit of history about the 2 instruments he’s playing.
So here goes, a panduri is a traditional Georgian three string plucked instrument, common in all regions of Eastern Georgia, such as Pshav-Khevsureti, Tusheti, Kakheti and Kartli.
The panduri is generally used to accompany solo heroic, comic and love songs, as well as dance, and is is typically played by men, it’s also often used in religious holidays and rituals, they are important domestic items in every Georgian family, and are symbols of happiness and merriment, that is why these instruments are not played during the period of mourning, so when somebody died, the Panduri is usually put out of sight in that family for a year, and as the time of mourning was over, the head of the family would take the instrument, strike the strings and sing a song as a symbolic end of the mourning period, then he would pass the Panduri to the other members of the family and their relatives, finally the whole village was able to play and sing songs…
…next we have the salamuri, which is a Georgian recorder, the salamuri is made of swan (shin) bone, and wood, again the salamuri is a widespread wind musical instrument found in all regions of Georgia, especially in Kartli, Kakheti, Meskheti, Tusheti, Pshavi, and Imereti.
According to the people’s belief, the sorrows of human being were the reason for making the salamuri. The legend says that when the first reed grew up on the orphan’s grave, the wind blew and the reed moaned in a sad voice. Salamuri was an inseparable close friend of a farmer that cheered him up in times of sorrow and sweetened his merriments. According to people’s belief, nothing can destroy a reed pipe, even fire cannot damage it. The parents’ faces are seen through its ashes and even the broken parts emit sweet tunes. According to some of the legends, people were presented with this instrument by God. That is why it is considered to be a divine musical instrument.
Watch till the end, for the best bits 😊
Enjoy 🥳
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