Instrument 01

This week we will learn about violin.The history of bowed string musical instruments in Europe goes back to the 9th century with the lira (orlūrā, Greek: λύρα) of the Byzantine Empire, a bowed instrument (held upright). The Persian geographerIbn Khurradadhbih (d. 911) of the 9th century, was the first to cite the bowed Byzantine lira as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time.The Byzantine lira spread through Europe westward and in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments (Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009). In the meantime rabāb was introduced to the Western Europe possibly through the Iberian Peninsula and both bowed instruments spread widely throughout Europe giving birth to various European bowed instruments.