Icelandic langspil

Just a little sample of an instrument you wont have heard before! (Unless you live in Iceland) This is one of two Icelandic langspils I made recently, copied from an instrument used by Didda Fidla. Please excuse the playing, these instrument are sensitive to bowing pressure, This video was taken a few hours after fitting the strings and is just simple improvisation as I have never played one of these before!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Iceland
• Langspil
• Fidla
• Luthier
• instruments
• music
• traditional
• folk

[PesiCool]

I HAVE TO BUY ONE OF THOSE!!

...Preferably here in my beloved Iceland, so I can support my fellow countrymen in their instrument producing.

[michaeljking]

@PesiCool try Hans Johannsson, Reykjavik, he has made them before, I can give him any help if he needs it from me,

[PesiCool]

@michaeljking How much do you think it would cost?

[michaeljking]

@PesiCool no idea, just send him a private email!

[TheEarthDoll]

I have an Appellation Mountain Dulcimer, Ive never seen one of those ..looks and sounds nice!

[michaeljking]

Try a fiddle bow on your instrument sometime, It will work just as well, you need to fret more on the fret though to get a clean sound

[dgunnar]

I am pretty sure the American Mountain Dulcimer is not an ancestor of the langspil since the langspil has been around since late 1500s. It is more likely that the two instruments have a mutual ancestor somewhere in mid- or northern Europe. ;)

[yarekhunt]

@dgunnar the dulcimer came from main land europe then eventually to ireland and eventually Appallachia where the Scotts/ Irish settled in the early 1700s

[michaeljking]

I built these with chromatic scales so that any music can be played on it, as the original instruments have different diatonic/modal frettings, as there was no standard.

No official music, but there are traditional icelandic folk songs and hymns that can be played.

Chris Foster uses one on his latest album/CD

To get one, you can use an Appalachian Dulcimer, make your own, or commission one from me;)

[AnethSvartalf]

Where do I get one, and where do I get music for it? It doesn't look hard to figure out.