| Name | Balalaika |
|---|---|
| Image capt | A typical balalaika |
| Background | string |
| Hornbostel sachs | 321.321 |
| Hornbostel sachs desc | Composite chordophone |
| Developed | Late 18th to early 19th centuries |
The balalaika family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika. All have three-sided bodies, spruce or fir tops, backs made of 3-9 wooden sections, and usually three strings. The prima balalaika is played with the fingers, the sekunda and alto either with the fingers or a plectrum, depending on the music being played, and the basses and contrabasses (equipped with extension legs which rest on the floor) are played with leather plectrums.
The modern balalaika is found in the following sizes:
The most common solo instrument is the prima, which is tuned E-E-A (the two lower strings being tuned to the same pitch). Sometimes the balalaika is tuned "guitar style" to G-B-D (mimicking the three highest strings of the Russian guitar), making it easier to play for Russian guitar players, although balalaika purists frown on this tuning. It can also be tuned to E-A-D, like its cousin, the domra, to make it easier for domra soloists to play the instrument, and still have a balalaika sound. The folk (pre-Andreev) tuning is D-F#-A, making it easier to play certain riffs.
Factory-made six-string prima balalaikas with three sets of double courses are also common and popular, particularly in Ukraine. These instruments have three double courses similar to the stringing of the mandolin and use a "guitar" tuning. Four string alto balalaikas are also encountered and are used in the orchestra of the Piatnistky Folk Choir.
The piccolo, prima, and secunda balalaikas were originally strung with gut with the thinnest melody string made of stainless steel. Today, nylon strings are usually used in place of gut.
Due to the gigantic size of the contrabass's strings, it is not uncommon for the plectrum to be made of a leather shoe or boot heel. The bass and contrabass balalaika rest on the ground on a wooden or metal pin drilled into one of its corners.
The term first appeared in the Ukrainian documents in the 18th century in documents from 1717-1732. It is thought that the term was borrowed into Russian where it first appeared a poem by V. Maikov "Elysei" in 1771. In the 19th century the balalaika evolved into a triangular instrument with a neck substantially shorter than its Asian counterparts. It was popular as a village instrument for centuries, particularly with the skomorokhs, sort of free-lance musical jesters whose tunes ridiculed the Tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian society in general.
A popular notion is that the three sides and the strings of the balalaika are supposed to represent the Holy Trinity. This idea, while whimsical, is quite difficult to reconcile when one is confronted with the fact that at various times in Russian history, the playing of the balalaika was banned because of its use by the skomorokhi, who were generally highly irritating to both Church and State. Musical instruments are not allowed in Russian Orthodox liturgy. A likelier reason for the triangular shape is given by the writer and historian Nikolai Gogol in his unfinished novel Dead Souls. He states that a balalaika was made by peasants out of a pumpkin. If you quarter a pumpkin, you are left with a balalaika shape. Another theory is: Before Tsar Peter I, instruments were not allowed in Russia. When Peter allowed them, only the boat builders knew how to work with wood. The balalaika looks a little like the front of a boat, if held horizontally. Another theory comes from a Russian tale: during the Mongol invasion of Rus, a Russian man from Nizhny Novgorod was captured by Mongols, but the Mongol Khan liked him because of his musical talent, released him and gave him a guitar. When the Russian man returned home, he took three of the strings out of the guitar, so that he would be able to repair his guitar if he breaks one of the strings, and that way he was left with a three-string guitar.
Interests in the balalaika first started after Andreyev's tour of North America in the early 20th century. A number of Andreyev's students also toured the west in 1909-12. In 1957 the Scandinavian Balalaika Association was formed. In 1977 a similar organization was formed in the USA.
Oleg Bernov of the Russian-American rock band the Red Elvises plays a red electrified contrabass balalaika during the band's North American tours.
Australian band, VulgarGrad, fronted by actor Jacek Koman, which plays songs of the Russian criminal underground, uses a contrabass balalaika.
Norwegian all-girl pop band Katzenjammer uses two contrabass balalaikas, both of which have cat faces painted on the front. They are named Børge and Akerø.
Ian Anderson plays balalaika on two songs from the 1969 Jethro Tull album Stand Up: "Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square" and "Fat Man".
Balalaikas of all sizes are prominently displayed in the official video for Basement Jaxx's 2006 single "Take Me Back To Yor Place".
The balalaika is mentioned in both The Beatles' song "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the Scorpions' song "Wind of Change".
Russian folk music had its roots in the village. With the establishment of the Soviet system and a Proletarian cultural direction - the culture of the working classes, which included that of village labourers was actively supported by the Soviet establishment. Not surprisingly, the concept of the balalaika orchestra was adopted wholeheartedly by the Soviet government as something distinctively proletarian (that is, from the working classes) and also progressive. Enormous amounts of energy and time were devoted by the Soviet government to foster conservatory study of the balalaika, from which highly skilled ensemble groups such as the Osipov State Balalaika Orchestra emerged. Balalaika virtuosi such as Boris Feoktistov and Pavel Necheporenko became stars both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The movement was so powerful that even the renowned Red Army Choir which initially used a normal symphonic orchestra, changed its instrumentation replacing violins, violas and violoncellos with orchestral balalaikas and domras.
In 1989 Kramer Guitars released an "Electric Balalaika": the Kramer Gorky Park. This was just before the fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union. It was actually just an electric guitar with a triangular shape that was based on the original instrument.
The "Wind of Change (song)" by the Scorpions uses the instrument in its lyrics.
The MiG-21 is nicknamed Balalaika because of the shape of its wings.
The Beatles' 1968 track "Back in the U.S.S.R" references the instrument in its final verse ('Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out/Come and keep your comrade warm').
Kusumi Koharu performed a song and dance titled "Balalaika" which has also been flawlessly mirrored in the Hatsune Miku phenomenon.
Firewater's album Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire 7th track is named "Balalaika" but does not appear to contain one.
In the 2006 anime Black Lagoon, the nickname of the local Russian mob boss is "Balalaika."
The rock band from Pasadena, Ozma plays a Balalakia on the song Flight Of Yuri Gagarin, off of their partially Russian themed album, "Double Donkey Disc." The album has a mirrored picture of a donkey playing the Balalakia on the front cover.
Category:Necked bowl lutes Category:Russian inventions Category:Russian loanwords Category:Russian musical instruments Category:String instruments
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