Zongorã (converted guitar from Maramures) This instrument does not belong to the Museum’s collection but is on loan from a private collector. Wood, plastic, metal strings 94 cm x 34 cm. H : 8 cm Museum of the Romanian Peasant

According to some historians, the guitar was introduced into Romania during the 16th century. At first it was a musical instrument of the upper classes. Only 150 years ago, people still thought that well educated ladies should learn to play in effort to entertain family guests. At the same time, the guitar became popular and was taken up by musicians in small traditional groups in Oltenia (to the south) and in Maramures (in the extreme north west of the country). In Oltenia, the guitar replaced the local folk lute called the cobzã. In Maramures, where it does not seem to have replaced any previous instrument, the guitar was called the zongorã. This name means "piano" in Hungarian and is further testimony to its "serious" origin.

Rural musicians have transformed the guitar-zongorã into a harmony and rhythm accompanying instrument. This functional development has had an impact on its tuning, the way the instrument is held and its playing technique. The zongorã has only three or four strings (at the beginning of the century it had two), tuned in major tuning (at the beginning of the century it was tuned in perfect fifths). In order to obtain successions of three-note chords, zongorã musicians press the instrument firmly against their side or left knee, move the index finger of the left hand up and down the neck, thereby changing the note, and strike the strings with a pick or plectrum. Today, no one can imagine that the guitar-zongorã could have ever played tunes since musicians now only know how to play rhythm backup, mainly for dance tunes.

C.M.