CHAPTER 5: Dulcimers in other countries since 1800 > Eastern Europe

Byelo-Russia & Russia

Buchner has a photograph of two ladies playing isimbalis, if that be the name used, of which the bass bridges are not completely cut out, since the treble bridge stops before it reaches the player; there is an interesting comparison with the East Midlands (Kettering) dulcimer of Barry Lewis.

Kastner (1852) has a vague reference that it was at that time 'cultivated among the Russians'.

The Smithsonian Institution refers to an instrument from Poltava, "Little Russia", although my atlas puts Poltava squarely in the Ukraine.

See also Zelenin, 1927 (Zimbel) (93).