Jouhikko

In October & November of 2008 I made this instrument. It is a Jouhikko or bowed lyre. I copied it from this 19th century instrument in the National Museum of Finland, using information from Otto Andersson's book "The Bowed Harp" and from Rauno Nieminen's book "Jouhikko: the Bowed Lyre".

Its body & soundboard are made of pine wood, and the bridge, tailpiece & tuning pins are sycamore. It was made entirely with hand tools, finished by scraping and then oiled with linseed oil. It's 21 inches (54cm) long, so the sounding string length is approx. 30cm. The two strings are of black horsehair, 30 strands on the left and 25 on the right (viewed from behind the instrument). It's tuned to a 4th, approximately middle c and the f above. The bow is made from a naturally curved stick with black horsehair.

This is a tune I learned from a tape of a Petrozavodsk folk band:

(Click here to download an mp3, 188k, 0:31)

Here is a different tune - this is 'The Fairy Dance' by Nathaniel Gow, composed in 1802 for the Fife Hunt Ball - a local tune for me here in Fife!

Simon Chadwick, St Andrews, Scotland. Return to index page.
11th November 2008, updated Sep 09