The hurdy gurdy dates back to the 12th century and was the first instrument to combine a keyboard with strings. The sound, however, is closer to the bagpipes than either a piano or a violin. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘synthesiser of the Middle Ages’ as it was the pinnacle of musical technology at the time, capable of a wide range of different sounds. Its ability to play a melody with a strongly rhythmic drone made it a firm favourite for dance music well into the 16th century.
The hurdy gurdy was once found throughout Europe, and there is an unbroken tradition of hurdy gurdy making and playing in Spain, France, Hungary and the Ukraine. The last few decades has seen a revival of interest in the instrument in many other countries where the tradition had died out.
The hurdy gurdy is essentially a mechanical violin but, rather than using a bow to play the strings, the musician turns a crank handle that rotates a rosined wheel, which scrapes against the strings. Pressing keys on the keyboard simply stops the strings at appropriate points, much like a violinist’s fingers pressing on the fingerboard of a violin.
Along with the melody string there are several drone strings that run over a specially designed ‘buzzing bridge’. By applying a little more pressure on the crank handle, the drone strings can be made to take on an extra buzzing sound. This is what gives hurdy gurdy music its distinctive rhythmic drive.
Because it is easy to tune each note separately, many hurdy gurdy players prefer to use old scales without equal temperament. This gives the instrument an authentic sound which seems slightly out of tune to some modern ears.
In 1999, Stefan Brisland-Ferner of Garmarna and Hållbus Totte Mattsson of Hedningarna began collaborating on a musical project that involved a novel use of hurdy gurdies. To expand on the Medieval synthesiser idea they recorded an album called Prototyp using only hurdy gurdies and hurdy gurdy sounds processed through computers.
→ see Stefan playing Delirium on the hurdy gurdy.
Hurdy Gurdy players featured in The Pure Drop:
