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  • Irish Bouzouki History

Brief History of the Irish Bouzouki, a newcomer to Folk Music

​The Irish bouzouki is an adaptation of the classic Greek Bouzouki. Johnny Moynihan is credited with having brought the first Greek Bouzouki to Ireland.

This instrument established a presence in Irish music through Johnny Moynihan and Alec Finn, first in the Cana Band and subsequently in De Dannan and has been adapted for Irish traditional and other folk music from the late 1960s onwards.

However, when Andy Irvine gave his Greek bouzouki to Dónal Lunny the first thing Lunny did with it was replace the octave strings with unison strings, thus giving the voice of the instrument more tonal power. Later, on a trip with Irvine to the workshop of Luthier Peter Abnett, Lunny decided to commission a bouzouki to the specifications of a classic Greek bouzouki but with unison strings and critically, a flat back.
Since then there has been numerous construction versions of this instrument.
Fully and semi carved soundboards, canted (bent) soundboards, floating Bridge and fixed pinned bridge. Multiple scale lengths, from around 530 mm up to 660 mm.
While there has been some attempts to standardise the construction/specifications and even naming of this instrument within the Mandolin Family there is some way to go.
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