A History and Typology of Folk Instruments of Music with Special Regard to the Instruments of the Carpathian Basin and its Surroundings

The study of folk musical instruments has become a discipline called organology will a combines historical with ethnographic scholarship. This might explain why the history and regional dissemination of various types of folk instruments have been ignored by scholars of traditional music, or examined only superficially. Performers of folk music have been interested in the larger cultural context and genealogy of their instruments, however, their investigations have often been influenced by preconceptions and a strong desire to trace the origins of their instruments back to ancient civilizations.
Some folk musical instruments do indeed have a very long and rich history whose origins can be traced back to ancient times, but these instruments are not the ones that have traditionally been thought to have an ancient past. In the Middle Ages there was no sharp divide between so-called “high” and “low” or “elite” and “popular” cultures, and the concept of a “folk culture” originates from the period between the 18th and 20th centuries. This research explores how most folk musical instruments originated in that period and were then disseminated across the Hungarian-speaking territories. With scholarly rigor, this book offers a comprehensive history of folk musical instruments designed for both academics and general readers.