Gusli

What it means

The gusli is a Russian board zither with plucked strings. Several strings are stretched over a flat, wing-shaped or trapezoid sound box, which players pluck with the fingers or strike with the nails. It is usually played on the lap or on a table.

Musical use

The gusli is one of the oldest instruments of East Slavic music and is attested since the Middle Ages, for instance in Novgorod. It accompanied singers who performed heroic songs, the byliny; the figure of the gusli player Sadko is well known. There are forms with five to more than thirty strings, and modern concert gusli are played in orchestras of Russian folk instruments.

The gusli should be distinguished from the gusle, the single-string bowed instrument of the Balkans, from the Finnish kantele, with which it is related, and from the zither in the narrower sense, which has a fingerboard. It is a pure plucked or struck zither without a fingerboard.

Performance practice

Pluck the gusli with an even touch and let the strings vibrate freely, since its sound lives on the afterglow. Practise simple melodies and broken chords first and damp with the hand when a note is not to ring on.