Cretan lyra

The Cretan Lyra (Greek κρητική λύρα ) is a pear-shaped, painted with the bow lute in Greek folk music.

The lyra is particularly widespread on the islands of the Dodecanese and Crete, is there next to the laouto to the traditional instruments of folklore. It is usually played by the singer himself, who often improvised uses in ritornellos and interludes and is accompanied by laouto. Comprised of lyra and laouta ensemble is almost exclusively the domain of men.

The lyra is like a violin played with a bow, but held vertically with the gripping hand and supported on the knees or thighs. It has three strings tuned in fifths, the neck there are no frets. The bulbous body of the Lyra of Crete and the Aegean islands similar to a mandolin. The instrument has been associated with rock music, as the Greek musician Georgia Dagaki used it at the concerts of Eric Burdon.

The Cretan lyra is related to several South and Southeast European lutes, such as the Calabrian Lira, the Bulgarian gadulka and played in classical Turkish music Fasıl kemençesi.

She is not related to the Pontic Lyra or kementzes (Greek κεμεντζές ) from Asia Minor, which is built narrow and bottle-shaped. The form represents kemençesi the Turkish karadeniz. The Pontic Lyra has two kinds, the down tuned kapan and the higher pitched zil ( Turkish word for " cymbal " and "high string ").