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Oud with the typical "Lute" back

Lute History

The lute can refer generally, to any plucked-string musical instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or the more specific style of "European lute"....

Lute History

The lute can refer generally, to any plucked-string musical instrument with a neck (either fretted or unfretted) and a deep round back, or the more specific style of "European lute"....

Concertinas

Concertina History

A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows, and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons...

Concertina History

A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows, and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons...

Bird Calls

Bird Calls History

Until the 60s, these whistles were used only for hunting, even as ecology was not recognized. But because of the devastation of forests around the world, people began to think...

Bird Calls History

Until the 60s, these whistles were used only for hunting, even as ecology was not recognized. But because of the devastation of forests around the world, people began to think...

Orquesta de Antonio María Romeu, founded in 1910, was one of the first charanga francesas. (Source: Wikipedia)

Cuban Charanga Flutes

Information The five-key wooden transverse flute, which in the 1950s and 1960s was dubbed the "charanga flute." During the 19th century, the transverse flute underwent many changes, with as many...

Cuban Charanga Flutes

Information The five-key wooden transverse flute, which in the 1950s and 1960s was dubbed the "charanga flute." During the 19th century, the transverse flute underwent many changes, with as many...

Cello at Lark in the Morning

Cellos History

The earliest depictions of the violin family, from northern Italy c. 1530, show three sizes of instruments, roughly corresponding to what we now call violins, violas, and cellos. Contrary to...

Cellos History

The earliest depictions of the violin family, from northern Italy c. 1530, show three sizes of instruments, roughly corresponding to what we now call violins, violas, and cellos. Contrary to...

Fiddles

Fiddles

The medieval Fiddle emerged in 10th-century Europe, deriving from the Byzantine lira, a bowed string instrument of the Byzantine Empire and ancestor of most European bowed instruments.  The first recorded...

Fiddles

The medieval Fiddle emerged in 10th-century Europe, deriving from the Byzantine lira, a bowed string instrument of the Byzantine Empire and ancestor of most European bowed instruments.  The first recorded...