The Calabrian lira (Italian: lira Calabrese) is a traditional musical instrument used in some parts of Calabria, a region located in southern Italy.

Characteristics

The lira of Calabria is a string instrument played with a bow and has three strings. Like many other bowed lyras, it is held upright, usually resting on the player's knee. The left hand touches the strings, with the nails positioned sideways, while the right hand moves the bow. The types of music played on the lira include songs that accompany other music, such as serenades and songs expressing strong emotions, as well as songs meant for dancing, like tarantellas. Information about the music played on this traditional instrument comes only from records made by older players or people who knew them. In recent years, more people have shown interest in the lira, leading to its use by traditional music groups and the creation of new makers in various parts of Calabria.

Origin

The Calabrian lira is closely connected to the bowed lyra (Greek: λύρα) used in the Byzantine Empire. A Persian geographer named Ibn Khurradadhbih, who lived in the 9th century and died in 911, was the first to mention the Byzantine lyra as a typical bowed instrument of the Byzantines (Margaret J. Kartomi, 1990). Similar bowed instruments that evolved from the Byzantine lyra have been played in many regions after the fall of the Byzantine Empire until today, with only small changes: the gadulka in Bulgaria, the lyra of Crete and the Dodecanese in Greece, the lyra of Pontos, and the classical kemenche (Turkish: Armudî kemençe, Greek: Πολίτικη Λύρα ~ Politiki lira) in Turkey. The Byzantine lyra traveled westward to Europe, but its development is unclear; writers from the 11th and 12th centuries used the words "fiddle" and "lyra" to describe the same instrument (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009).