Šiaurės Lietuva - kraštas, kur visus darbus laimino saulė, kiekvieną žmogaus žingsnį lydėjo muzikos garsai

ENThe most unique exhibits – musical instruments representing the specificity of material and spiritual culture of North East Lithuania region distinguish in the exposition of ethnography housed in Biržai Region Museum “Sėla”. The traditions of archaic ethno-music have remained the longest in this region: the singing of glees, the music of skudučiai (closed multiple-pipe flute), daudytės (blowing aerofone), and the horns. The authentic wind instruments are exhibited in the museum – the sets of daudytės, horns, skudučiai, and old traditional kanklės (Baltic psaltery). Musicians’ photos prove that only men played the latter instrument and even several generations of relatives. Pentachord kanklės introduced in the exposition appeared in the museum in c 1928–1934. These kanklės reflect the regional tradition the most. The upper plates of all kanklės are decorated with carved stars or small holes. Two kanklės are dated in 1854 and 1860. Skudutis is the smallest, simplest, most popular instrument of exhibited wind instruments. The set of skudučiai is mostly composed of five not connected tuned small pipes of various length (10 – 20 cm). Each musician playing this musical instrument blows a separate pipe. Musicians name each skudutis with a separate name or marked with small nicks in order to show which sound is produced.The longest musical instruments are exhibited in the museum – wooden trumpets called daudytės. Their length is 140 – 230 cm., and 4–5 sounds are blown with one daudytė. They were produced from hard wood: ash, maple, elm, and birch. One more set of musical instruments in the exposition – the set of horns, made in 1918, on the occasion of announcement of the Independence of Lithuania. It was presented by a master Stasys Einoris to the museum in 1928. The length of horns 50–110 cm. The set was composed of 4–5 horns. Each horn was blown by a separate man who produced only one sound. Hard wood was used for the production of horns as well. The task of museologists is to preserve and enshrine the traditions and individuality of ethnographic regions as well as the unity of ethnocultural values. [From the publication]