| Name | Image | Description | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandura |  | Bandura (Ukrainian: Банду́ра) refers to a Ukrainian plucked string instrument similar to a zither, as well as to its lute-like Baroque predecessor, the kobza. It has a short neck, an oval flat body and is held vertically. The image shows Kharkiv bandurist H. Bazhul. | |
| Buhay |  | The Buhay is a percussive that was used in Western Ukraine and is classified as a friction drum. It consists of a conical barrel (sometimes a wooden bucket). At one end a sheep membrane is stretched with a hole in this skin's center. Through this hole a tuft of horse hair with a knot at one end is passed. Usually two performers are needed to operate the instrument, one to hold the instrument, the other to pull the horsehair with moistened fingers. In recent times versions of the Buhay have been made which are held in position by the players feet allowing one player to play the instrument. These instruments can be played successfully by one player without assistance. Five to six different sounds can be obtained from the instrument, depending on the skill of the player. | |
| Bukhalo |  | The bukhalo is a type of large drum often used in dance music, particularly popular in Western Ukraine. It is tied to the player with a belt so that the performer can also dance. The bukhalo is struck with a wooden stick and often has a cymbal joined to the side of the instrument which is struck by a metal rod, or another cymbal, to produce unexpected rhythmic sounds. | |
| Dentsivka |  | The dentsivka (Ukrainian: Денцівка) is often commonly called a sopilka, however, it differs from the true sopilka in that the dentsivka has a fipple, like the western European recorder. It is thus classified as a duct flute. Usually it is made from a tube of wood approximately 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in.) length. Holes are cut or burnt into the tube and a fipple made at one end. The pipe itself can be made of any material including metal and plastic. | |
| Derkach |  | The derkach (Ukrainian: Деркач) is an Ukrainian version of the rattle. It is occasionally used in Ukrainian folk instrument orchestras, but is usually found as a child's toy. In ancient times it was a religious and magical instrument. The derkach was made by taking a piece of rounded hard wood and cutting teeth into it. Another piece of wood is joined to this with a tongue. As this piece rotates around the rounded piece, the tongue makes a noise as it passes over the teeth. | |
| Drymba |  | Drymba is a jew's harp from Ukraine. The Jew's harp, or mouth harp, is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. It is made from brass or steel. In former times it was made from wood or bamboo. A reed is attached to the harp. The player puts the narrow part of the instrument into his mouth, and gets the reed moving by using his right hand. The oral cavity is served as a resonator. | |
| Dvodentsivka |  | Dvodentsivka (Ukrainian: Дводенцівка) is a double duct flute. Two dentsivkas with the same length are joined together into one dvodentsivka but only one has playing holes. The other pipe has no holes and acts as a drone. | |
| Floyarka |  | The floyarka is a type of sopilka, a traditional Ukrainian flute. It is characterized as an open-ended notched flute. The floyarka is a larger version of the frilka. The floyarka is a pipe of approximately a 30 cm in length, (approximately 10 cm longer than the frilka). Traditionally, a floyarka had six holes, although now ten holes are also common. One end is sharpened and the breath is broken against one of the sides of the tube at the playing end. The mouthpiece is sharpened into a cone-like edge and the instrument produces a sound similar to that of the flute. The floyarka is often called a frilka or sometimes zubivka in central Ukraine. | |
| Hudok |  | Hudok (Ukrainian: Гудок) is an ancient Ukrainian string musical instrument, which was played with a bow. It name comes from the word "to make noise, or to hum or buzz". A Hudok usually had 3 strings: 2 of them were played as a drone whereas the 3rd was tuned one fifth higher. All 3 strings were placed in the same plane, so a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. The Hudok is held in the lap of the player like in a cello or viola da gamba. It can date back its history to the 12th century. | |
| Kobza |  | The kobza is a traditional Ukrainian stringed musical instrument, of the lute family, and more specifically a relative of the Central European mandora. kobza is the precursor to the bandura, it is a three- to eight-string instrument mentioned in Greek literature of the 6th century. | |
| Kuvytsi |  | The Kuvytsi (Ukrainian: Кувиці) or Rebro, is one of the most ancient of folk instruments and is better known in the West as the Pan pipe. Pan pipes have been found in archeological excavations in Ukraine that date back some 5,000 years. The instrument consists of several pipes each of which, when blown endwise, produces one sound. Various versions of the kuvytsi exist in Ukraine, such as the one-sided kuvytsi, which consist of a system of pipes from large to small in one direction or double-sided kuvytsi, which have their largest pipe in the center. | |
| Lira |  | The lira, or relia, (Ukrainian: ліра) is a variant of the hurdy-gurdy, an instrument which can trace its history back to the 10th century. It is thought that the lira was introduced into Ukraine in the 17th century by Cossacks who had fought in France as mercenary soldiers. It was used as an instrument to accompany religious psalms, kants and epic ballads performed by itinerant blind musicians called lirnyky. The traditional lira has three strings, one on which the melody is played with the aid of a special keyboard, the other two producing a drone of a fifth. The sound is produced by a wooden wheel which is rotated by a crank held in the right hand. This wheel rubs against the strings, setting them into vibration like a bow on a violin. | |
| Mandora |  | The mandora or mandore, also known as the gallizona or gallichon, is a type of 6 or 8-course bass lute (possibly a descendant of guiterne and/or chitarra italiana) used mainly for basso continuo, in Germany, Austria and Bohemia, particularly during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The construction of the mandora is similar to other baroque lutes. It has a vaulted body (shell) constructed of separate ribs, a flat soundboard with either a carved rose or one which is inset into the soundhole, and a bridge (without a saddle) consisting of a wooden bar acting as a string-holder glued to the soundboard. The image shows a Ukrainian Cossack with a mandora, c.1750. | |
| Okaryna |  | The okaryna (also known as zozulka or ocarina) (literally a small cuckoo bird ) is in widespread use in the Carpathian Mountain area of Ukraine especially among the Hutsuls. It is a vessel flute in the shape of an egg with seven to ten finger-holes. This Ukrainian ocarina belongs to the group of whistle instruments and in fact is a sophisticated svystun. Usually they are made of clay. | |
| Pidkova |  | The Pidkova (Ukrainian: Підкова) literarily "Horseshoe". In some Ukrainian folk instrument ensembles a steel horseshoe dangling from the end of a gut string is struck with a piece of metal wire. This produced a high-pitched ringing sound similar to a triangle. | |
| Pivtoradentsivka |  | Pivtoradentsivka (Ukrainian: Півтораденцівка) The Pivtoradetsivka is translated as one and a half dentsivkas. It consists of two dentsivkas joined together into one instrument. Only one of the pipes has fingerholes. The other acts as a drone. The drone pipe in a pivtoradentsivka is usually shorter than the playing pipe. The instrument has the same fingering as the standard dentsivka. | |
| Rih |  | The rih (Ukrainian: Ріг) (Rizhok, Lihava, Cossack Horn, Hornpipe) was a popular instrument in Eastern Ukraine, with between three and six fingerholes, or sometimes none. Usually they were made from a cylindrical reed with a cow's horn to form the bell. The mouthpiece usually has a single reed although occasionally double reed instruments can be found. | |
| Sopilka |  | Sopilka (Ukrainian: Cопiлка) is a name applied to a variety of woodwind instruments of the flute family used by Ukrainian folk instrumentalists. It most commonly refers to a fife made of a variety of materials (but traditionally out of wood) and has six to ten finger holes. Sopilkas are used by a variety of Ukrainian folkloric ensembles recreating the traditional music of the various sub-ethnicities in western Ukraine, most notably that of the Hutsuls of the Carpathian Mountains. Often employing several sopilkas in concert, a skilled performer can mimic a variety of sounds found in nature, including bird-calls and insects. | |
| Starosvitska Bandura |  | The Starosvitska bandura is a folk instrument from Ukraine. It is also referred to as Classical or old-time bandura. These instruments usually have some 20-23 strings. Thes instruments are usually hand-made, with no two instruments being exactly the same. The backs are usually hewn out of a single piece of wood, and wooden pegs hold the strings which are tuned diatonically. Traditionally these instruments had gut strings, however, at the beginning of the 20th century common performance practice preferred steel strings. | |
| Surma |  | The surma is a type of shawm that had widespread use in the armies of the Cossack host. It is thought that the instrument was introduced into Ukraine from the Caucasus or Turkey where the surma exists under the names zurna and surnai. The instrument surma is made of wood with a conical bore, having a bell at one end and a double reed similar to that used in the oboe at the other. It usually has nine to ten finger-holes and is capable of chromatic sounds through a range of dynamics. The instrument is reminiscent of the sound of the oboe. Presently the surma has found its way into orchestras of Ukrainian folk instruments in a range of sizes such as prima, alto and bass. The image shows a surma (top) and a Ukrainian Cossack trumpet (bottom). | |
| Torban |  | Torban was manufactured and used mainly in Ukraine, but occasionally also in Poland and Russia. There are about two dozen torbans in museums around the world, with the largest group of 14 instruments in St. Petersburg. The torban has approximately 30 strings, usually made of gut, although instruments having up to 60 strings are known to have existed. A predecessor of the torban called kobza (also known as bandura) was the instrument of the common folk. It differed from the torban by the absence of the bass strings. | |
| Trembita |  | Trembita (Ukrainian: Трембіта) is an Ukrainian alpine horn made of wood. Used primarilly by mountain dwellers known as Hutsuls in the Carpathians. It was used as a signaling device to announce deaths, funerals, weddings. The tube is made from a straight piece of pine or spruce. It is split in two in order to carve out the core section. The sections are once again joined together and then wrapped in lime bark. Today it is often used in Ukrainian ethnograophic ensembles and as an episodic instrument in the Ukrainian folk instrument orchestra. | |
| Tsymbaly |  | The tsymbaly (Ukrainian: цимбали) is the Ukrainian version of the hammered dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal (steel of bronze) strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against the strings. The strings are strung in groups of 3-5, which are tuned in unison. The bass strings may have 1 or 2 wrapped strings tuned in union. | |
| Volynka |  | The Volynka (Ukrainian: Волинка) is a Slavic bagpipe. Its etymology comes from the region where it probably was invented - Volyn of Ukraine. The volynka is constructed around a goat skin air reservoir into which air is blown through a pipe with a valve to stop air escaping. Two to four of playing pipes extend from the reservoir holding the air. The main playing pipe on which the melody is played has five to eight finger holes. The other pipes produce a drone. This is usually either a single tonic note or a perfect fifth. Each of these playing pipes has a double reed usually made from a goose quill. |
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