The Stroh violin or phono violin (vioara cu goarnã or highèghe) Jelu Covaci, village in Bãlnaca, Bihor region 1998 Violin – wood, soundbox – brass Violin: 61 cm x 12 cm H :9 cm Soundbox : Le: 39 cm D: 12 cm Bow : 65 cm x 2 cm Museum of the Romanian Peasant

What I could not understand about the Stroh was how it fell into the hands of Romanian farmers in Bihor. It is true that the region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire at the time. Are we to suppose, however, that Bihor farmers did their shopping in Vienna, which in any case is a long way from Bihor? I imagine there might have been travelling salesmen that introduced and sold the instrument to people in the villages… What intrigues me even more is that the phono violin has not been mass-produced for a long time. It has disappeared from stores and none of the neighbouring communities use it… However, the people of Bihor are so attached to it that they have prolonged its existence by making it themselves in a rudimentary way, significantly changing it, from what I can understand… Why? Well, there is yet another surprising reason: the phono violin has a Hungarian name. It is called highèghe rather than ceterã like fiddles in the rest of Transylvania. But from what I can tell, the Hungarians never played this instrument! So why this name? Is it because the salesmen who had it for sale in the villages were Hungarian? ... I would very much like to find an answer to these questions.