Image: Phso2, CC BY-SA 3.0 — via Wikimedia Commons
Tambouras
ταμπουράς (tambouras)
| Category | Strings |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Greece |
| Wikipedia | en.wikipedia.org |
| Wikidata | Q3559944 |
Overview
The tambouras is a long-necked plucked lute from Greece. It belongs to the broader family of long-necked lutes that stretches across the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Anatolia, and includes the Turkish saz, the Persian tanbur, and many related instruments. The tambouras is best known today as the historical ancestor of the modern Greek bouzouki, but it has its own distinct musical identity and has enjoyed a steady revival in Greek folk and rebetiko music.
Origin & History
Long-necked lutes called pandoura or tambour have been documented in the Eastern Mediterranean since antiquity. The Byzantine and post-Byzantine tambouras developed within this long tradition and was widely played in Greece during Ottoman times. By the early twentieth century the tambouras had begun to evolve into the modern bouzouki through changes to body shape, string count, and tuning.
The tambouras carries strong national symbolism in Greece. The instrument played by the legendary independence fighter Markos Botsaris during the Greek War of Independence is preserved in the National Historical Museum in Athens, and the tambouras has become emblematic of pre-modern Greek folk identity.
How It’s Played
The tambouras has a small pear-shaped or oval wooden body and a very long fretted neck. Most modern instruments carry three or four strings or pairs of strings, traditionally tuned in fourths or in modal arrangements that suit the makam-derived modes of Greek folk music. The frets are often tied gut or movable nylon, allowing the player to set the precise microtonal pitches needed for traditional modes.
The player plucks the strings with a plectrum, creating clear melodic lines often supported by a continuous drone on an open string. Right-hand technique combines fast plectrum strokes with subtle dynamic shading, and left-hand technique includes slides, ornaments, and modal-scale work that draws on a long Eastern Mediterranean tradition.
Cultural Significance
For many centuries the tambouras was a primary folk instrument of Greek-speaking communities across the Aegean, the mainland, and Anatolia. With the rise of the bouzouki in the early twentieth century, the tambouras receded somewhat in mainstream popular use but never disappeared, and it experienced a strong revival from the 1970s onward through the work of musicians and scholars devoted to older Greek musical traditions.
The instrument is associated with traditional dance music, with rebetiko (the urban Greek song tradition), and with the broader Eastern Mediterranean modal music world.
Related Instruments
- Bouzouki – the modern Greek long-necked lute descended from the tambouras
- Saz (Bağlama) – the Turkish long-necked lute in the same broader family
- – the Persian long-necked lute
- Setar – the Persian small long-necked lute
- – the Greek and Turkish short-necked lute
Where to Hear It
Recordings by Ross Daly, the group En Chordais, Christos Tsiamoulis, and the late Domna Samiou’s archive recordings showcase the tambouras in both traditional and contemporary contexts. Reissues of early-twentieth-century rebetiko recordings sometimes feature pre-bouzouki tambouras playing.
Learning Resources
Tambouras teaching is concentrated in Greece, with strong programs at the Labyrinth Musical Workshop on Crete and at conservatories and folk-music centers in Athens and Thessaloniki. Online lessons in Greek and English are increasingly available, and method books cover both traditional modal study and historical repertoire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the tambouras the same as the bouzouki?
No. The tambouras is the older instrument from which the bouzouki is descended. The two share a basic concept but have different shapes, string arrangements, and repertoires.
How many strings does a tambouras have?
Most have three or four strings or pairs of strings, depending on the tradition.
Is it related to the Turkish saz?
Yes. Both belong to the broader family of long-necked Eastern Mediterranean lutes and share many features.
Is the tambouras hard to learn?
The basic plectrum technique is approachable for any plucked-string player. Mastering the modal scales and traditional ornamentation of Greek folk music takes longer.
