Galician instruments
LIVE MUSIC 2. Galician instruments
Here you can read about Galician instruments and watch videos that show how they sound or are played.
The Galician bagpipe has got a chanter to play the melody, a bass drone pointing up that emits a second octave and one or two more drones, usually pointing down, to play the tonic and dominant notes.
Judith Rey Iglesias. Galician Pipe (CC BY-NC-SA)
Judith Rey Iglesias. Pasarrúas da Xesta. (CC BY-NC-SA)
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A hurdy-gurdy is a bowed string instrument dating back to the Middle Ages. The sound is produced by a rosined wheel that rubs against the strings. Some strings produce the melody while some others always produce the same note, which makes its sound similar to that of bagpipes. . |
| Different-sized drums. The biggest is called bombo de treboada or bombo de mallada and it is played vertically with two mallets, one on each side of the drum. The middle-sized usual drum hangs from the player's waist and is played almost in a horizontal position. It is said to show the melody when it accompanies a bagpipe. The flattest one is called female drum and it is used in north-east Ourense. Women play it vertically with a couple of mallets while they are sitting. |
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This percussion instrument called sistro was generally used in the south of Pontevedra by women who wanted to accompany songs. They played while sitting, beating the instrument with their free hand and on their legs. |
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. Zanfoña (CC BY-NC-SA)
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Judith Rey Iglesias. Tambor (CC BY-NC-SA)
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Judith Rey Iglesias. Pandeira (CC BY-NC-SA)
Different types of tambourines: round pandero and square pandero, both without jingles and covered by a drumhead, pandeira, a 45 cm round single tension-headed drumhead with one or two jingle rows in the frame, and a pandeireta, about fifteen cm smaller than a pandeira. |
 . Zanfoñas (CC BY-NC-SA)
. Sonido de zanfoña (CC BY-NC-SA)
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Other instruments are a ratchet, rattle or noisemaker, called in Galicia tastarabás, trécola, relo or carraca; a charrasco, a tall pole with a trapezoidal wood frame on top where jingles are placed; tarrañolas made of two wooden pieces, etc. There are many more that you can check at Consello da Cultura Galega page. |
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