page_title: Tamburica
section_title: Types of tamburica
hierarchical_section_title: Tamburica / Types of tamburica
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of musical instrument(s) taken at the Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix) on 2011-04-26. “Tamburitza instruments displayed at permanent exhibition at The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) Tempe, AZ 85284. Shell inlaid pear like brač and guitar like shaped brač and bugarija are made by Gilg, Sisak, Croatia. Smaller dark colored is brač made by B. Grđan, Gračani, Zagreb. The large dark colored is čelo.” —w:en:Tamburica
context_page_description: Tamburica or Tamboura refers to a family of long-necked lutes popular in Southern Europe and Central Europe, especially Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, and Hungary. It is also known in Burgenland. All took their name and some characteristics from the Persian tanbur but also resemble the mandolin and guitar in the sense that its strings are plucked and often paired. The frets may be moveable to allow the playing of various modes. The variety of tamburica shapes known today were developed in Serbia and Croatia by a number of indigenous contributors near the end of the 19th century.
context_section_description: The number of strings on a tamburica varies and it may have single or double-coursed strings or a mixture of both. Double-coursed strings are tuned in unison. The basic forms of tamburica are (Serbian and Croatian name is given with Hungarian name in the parenthesis, if different):
  The samica - while a solo instrument and not generally part of the tamburica orchestra, two double strings.
  The prim (prím) - one double string, E, and three single strings B, F#, C#. This is the smallest tamburica (about 50 cm long), but is very loud. It is mostly used as a lead instrument or harmonizing instrument. The bisernica (from Serbian and Croatian "biser" meaning "pearl") is almost identical but may have two double strings and two single strings.
  The brač or basprim (brács or basszprím) - three double strings, or two double strings and three single strings (basprim), a slightly bigger, lower instrument than the bisernica but played in a similar fashion.
  The čelović - originally two double strings and two single strings; now four single strings are more common.
  The bugarija or kontra (brácsó or kontra) - one double string D and three single strings, similar to a guitar, mostly plays chords on the "back beat" for rhythm. A bugarija has five strings, the bottom pair are D, the middle string is A and the top two are tuned F# and F#.
  The čelo (cselló) - four strings, similar in size to the bugarija and plays a counterpoint line which is usually improvised.
  The bas or berda (tamburabőgő), also called begeš (bőgős) - four strings. It is the largest instrument in the tamburica family, and is similar to contrabass. It can only be played standing and is used for playing bass lines.
  There is a view that the first tambura orchestra was formed in Hungary in the 19th century. The instruments' names came from the Hungarian names of the musical instruments of the symphony orchestra ("cselló" meaning cello, "bőgő" meaning contrabass) and from the Hungarian Gipsy bands (bőgős, prím, kontra). These orchestras soon spread to what is now Bosnia, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
caption: Tamburitza instruments displayed at permanent exhibition at The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) Tempe, AZ 85284. Shell inlaid pear like brač and guitar like shaped brač and bugarija are made by Gilg, Sisak, Croatia. Smaller dark colored is brač made by B. Grđan, Gračani, Zagreb. The large dark colored is čelo.
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