minstrel: is ther anybody out there

[nickolas kaugon]

hi has this list gone dead?

i was away in greece for a month and nada a comment.

i bought a second hand lauta there . the older one from the constantanople tradition. with friction pegs and four courses with seven strings. couldn't help myself. there is a fabulous greek folk instrument museum in athens in the plaka just north of the acropolis. they have a wonderfull collection of old instruments and recordings you can listen to, both old fiel recordings for stlyes of a hundred years old or so and recreation recordings for ancient music.

there is a carving pictured there showing one of these instruments from the second century, on a bit of research i found a statue fron 300 bc of a similar instrument then called a pandora--rather peotic. ;iterally means gift fron the gods in ancient greek. so these instrument are very old in greece.

of course you can't tell from pictures and statues if the top is made from skin or wood but the tradition is still there.

the first four course lutes appear in the west after  the year one thousand--some one out there prove me wrong and save me the xtra research

ant way i have an early stlye lute with microtonal fretts(tied on) to boot. i love a new toy