Balalaika Prima Deluxe Variegated Rosewood and Lacewood

Description

Our Balalaika Prima Deluxe has the traditional 3 strings and measures approximately 27 inches in length. The scale length is 430 mm. The body has the classical triangular shape. The back is slightly bowed and made with stave of rosewood and lacewood. The darker back contrasts with the light colored wood of the soundboard. The Balalaika Prima Deluxe strings are tuned above middle C to: A, E, E (1st-3rd). The 1st string is the thinnest, and lays over more frets than the 2nd and 3rd strings. Use a piano or electronic tuner as a reference for tuning. The tension on each tuning peg is to adjust by tightening or loosing the screw on the top of the peg. To play, the left-hand notes the strings while the index finger of the right-hand strums high on the soundboard near the neck. The dark rosewood on the soundboard is decorative but also protects the soundboard from the strumming. The Balalaika most likely evolve in the Oriental dombra, which is still playing in present-day Kazakhstan. Knowledge of the dombra most likely spread to Russia by Mongol trade and conquest. After undergoing structural changes, the Balalaika was embracing by Russians. It is saying the Balalaika embodies the Russian peopleandrsquos character, with its ability to switch from happiness to sadness with ease. It was common for the peasant ballads, composing to the Balalaika, to irreverently poke fun at the authority of the times. For this reason, there were times when the Balalaika is ban by both the Orthodox Church and the State. The instrument enjoys its greatest folk popularity in the early 18th century. In the later 19th century the instrument underwent a number of changes, including the adoption of the classic triangular shape. Reportedly, in the late 19th century, Vassily Vassilievich Andreyev was responsible for the transition from a folk instrument to a concert instrument. Andreyevandrsquo’s chamber ensemble renamed The Great Russian Imperial Balalaika Orchestra, introduced the instrument to cultures outside of Russia. The Balalaika Prima Deluxe was also carried by the common people when they fled Russia at times of war.