The zongora is an instrument typical of Maramureș, a region of Romania.[1][2] It is similar to a guitar, but has fewer strings.[3] In the past it had two strings, but nowadays it has four or even five.[4] When played, the instrument is usually held vertically. The string layout is compressed to the central inch of the fingerboard to allow rapid rhythmical strumming.[5] Recent musicians make more harmonic changes than in the past, but still use only major chords.[6]

The word zongora is also Hungarian for piano.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Rice, T.; Porter, J.; Goertzen, C. (2017). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Europe. Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Taylor & Francis. p. 1465. ISBN 978-1-351-54426-9. Retrieved February 7, 2018. For example, the cobza, the chitara (guitar), and the zongora (the guitar of Maramures) play simple harmonic forms.
  2. ^ Fallon, Steve (1999). Eastern Europe. LONELY PLANET EASTERN EUROPE. Lonely Planet. p. 677. ISBN 978-0-86442-611-6. Retrieved February 7, 2018. The hora dancers stamp their feet, swing their upper body, and clap vigorously to the rhythm of a purituri, a chanted rhyme drummed out by three musicians on a traditional zongora(viola tuned in the key of A minus the C#), a cetera (shrill violin), and a doba (bongo made from fir or ...
  3. ^ Giurchescu, A.; Bloland, S. (1995). Romanian Traditional Dance: A Contextual and Structural Approach. American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences: American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Wild Flower Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-912131-16-0. Retrieved February 7, 2018. ... In Maramures musical accompaniment is provided by a violin and zongora, a local guitar-like instrument with two or three strings. Sometimes a cello or contrabass is included; these can double as percussion instruments by striking the strings with a small stick. A bass drum may also be used in place of the ...
  4. ^ Cooper, D. (1996). Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra. Cambridge Music Handbooks (in Icelandic). Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-521-48505-0. Retrieved February 7, 2018. ... which was not collected by Bartok, but was taken from a disk of popular Romanian music given to him by Constantin Brailoiu. As was stated in the second chapter, it was not Bartok's practice to make use of actual folk material in his major works, preferring to create synthetic folk-inspired melodies. Bartok's orchestra attempts to imitate the sounds and instruments of a Romanian gypsy band (taraf), whose members are solo fiddle (primas), a kind of two-string guitar (zongora or cobza) ...
  5. ^ Burrows, T. (2002). The Complete Book of the Guitar: The Definitive Guide to the World's Most Popular Instrument. Carlton. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-84222-321-5. Retrieved February 7, 2018. The Zongora This is a guitar from Northern Transylvania in Romania, used in a very unconventional way, which was mentioned by classical composer Bela Bartok in his research into folk music. It is used ...
  6. ^ Broughton, S.; Ellingham, M.; Trillo, R. (1999). World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Music reference series. Rough Guides. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-85828-635-8. Retrieved February 7, 2018. The instrumental group is a trio of violin (locally called cetera), guitar (zongora – with only four or five strings tuned to a major triad) and drum (daha — usually an old military style drum with a little cymbal on top struck with a screwdriver). The music has a fairly primitive sound, lacking the beguiling harmonies of elsewhere in Transylvania, and with a repeated chord on the zongora played as a drone. Hundreds of years ago all the music of Europe probably sounded something like this.
  7. ^ Kenesei, I.; Vago, R.M.; Fenyvesi, A. (2002). Hungarian. Descriptive Grammars (in Indonesian). Taylor & Francis. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-134-97646-1. Retrieved February 7, 2018.

Further reading

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  • Plucked strings, Traditional music in Romania, The Eliznik Romania pages. Accessed January 2022.