Owner: HWMC
Catalog#: 2CL-CHLT-171
Miscellaneous Lutes
Croatian ‘Tamburica – Brac' Selinshick (C)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
George J. Selinshick
Wood, leather, mother-of-pearl, metal
Mid 1950s
Length: 34.75 in; Width: 10.25 in; Depth: 3.25 in
Strings – Lutes – Miscellaneous Lutes
Written inside where neck meets resonator: G.l. Selinshick /N.S. Pgh Pa.
East Europe has quite a few long neck lutes; a lot of them called tambura (or tamboura). Originally, they are based on instruments from southern parts of Europe, like the Turkish saz, or the Albanian cifteli or the sargija. The body used to be pear-shaped, but more recently the guitar-shape is getting more popular. Over time it has evolved to become the Croatian and north Serbian national instrument.
In places like Bulgaria and Macedonia, the tamburas are the only plucked instrument played in a group. However, in Serbia and Croatia they have groups (tamburitza) playing solely plucked instruments – of different sizes, expanding into a whole family known as the tamburitza orchestras.
The basic tamburicas are from the smallest to the largest: bisernica, brac, bugarija, celo and berde. The tamburitza group may have just one of each, or several close to the same size and they may also be tuned differently. The tamburica is plucked or strummed, by hand or with a plectrum.
This is one of several tamburicas in this collection made by tambura maker George Selinshick (1894 – 1979) from Pittsburgh PA. It is called a ‘Brac’ or ‘Basprim,’ and is a tenor shaped guitar. The ‘Brac’ plays the melody and harmony in the mid-range octaves. The instrument is finely detailed with ornate features including trimming around the front edges and sound hole with MOP. Surrounding the sound hole is darker wood with an image of a bird in flight, and flowers with leaf stems, all made from MOP. A metal plate etched with vines and flower buds, covers the f-shaped peghead with a six-leaf MOP at the end. There are five pegs on the left side of the peghead. The front and back of the resonator is also trimmed with MOP around the edges.