The folkloric instrument used in Cyprus from the old times was primarily the reed recorder (also known as ‘pidkiavlin’); an ancient wind instrument made out of a piece of reed. The recorder (‘avlos’) was not a professional instrument, but was very popular among the amateur performers and the audience. A step forward were the country shepherds, who either because of the life conditions, the life in the countryside, the unlimited free time and the loneliness of a person in the fields, created the ideal circumstances for them to be focused on this instrument and practice for a long period of time.
[ Source: Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος: Τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και οι λαϊκοί χοροί της Κύπρου. Λευκωσία, Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου, 1989. ]
Another musical instrument also used from amateurs, that the ancient music-lover cypriots used, was the ‘tampuras’. It was a string instrument in a half pear shape; the shell was very small and had a long neck (‘tastiera’) with three or four strings. The sound of ‘tampuras’ was high pitched, soft and in low volume; was produced by a pick made of a specially treaded eagle’s feather or a vulture’s feather or if needed from a turkey.
[ Source: Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος: Τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και οι λαϊκοί χοροί της Κύπρου. Λευκωσία, Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου, 1989. ]
The main professional musical instrument, that has been established as the primary means of expression and performance of the cypriot, folkloric music, especially the folklore dance tunes till our days, is the violin.
The old cypriot violin performers were primarily practical, self-taught, who tried different known melodies on their violin, improvising some of their own; just like the ‘pidkiavlin’ performers were doing.
[ Source: Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος: Τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και οι λαϊκοί χοροί της Κύπρου. Λευκωσία, Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου, 1989. ]
The cypriot performers were using the violin for improvised melodies, to accompany the voice of the singers and to perform dancing tunes. They soon realized though that the violin was lacking in the area of the dancing tunes and there was a need for ‘reinforcement’. There was need of a percussion instrument to keep the tempo and the rhythm; ‘tamputsia’ came as the necessity to fulfill that need.
‘Tamputsia’ was in the beginning a kind of agricultural utensil, something like a sieve although smaller than the normal one, which was closed on one side of the tenter with a stretched animal skin. When the ‘tamputsia’ took its place as the ‘partner’ of the violin, the makers of ‘tamputsia’ made sure to give her a more artistic look by decorating the frame with shapes and the outer skin with festive or wedding portrayals with beautiful colors.
[ Source: Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος: Τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και οι λαϊκοί χοροί της Κύπρου. Λευκωσία, Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου, 1989. ]
Today besides ‘tamputsia’, dumbek (‘tumpeleki’ or ‘tumperkeki’) is mainly used as well as other percussion instruments of the same character adn acoustic essence, like the persian / irish bodhran, the persian mizhar and the frame drum (different sizes) which is actually a ‘newer’ version of ‘tamputsia’ with frame and a drumhead (skin or plastic)
[ Alexandros Zographos 2015]
Before the spread of piano in Europe, the lute (‘laouto’) was more used either as a solo or as an accompaniment instrument. The preponderant and more popular type of ‘laouto’ was the ‘steriano’ (the one from the land), the ‘nisiotiko’ (the one from the islands) which had four pair of strings. ‘Laouto’ belongs to the family of string instruments played with a pick just like mandolin, mandola, bouzouki etc. The sound of ‘laouto’ is produced today with a plastic pick; in the older days was produced by a pick made of a specially treaded eagle’s feather or a vulture’s feather.
Right after its import in Cyprus, ‘laouto’ took its place next to the violin, became its inseparable partner in all occasions and there was no performance done without the accompaniment of the ‘laouto’. The reason is because it adds harmony on the violin’s melodic lines, accents the rhythmical parts of the music and keeps the tempo. Because of all these advantages, the ‘laouto’ dislodged ‘tamputsia’ which was part of the group along with the ‘laouto’ and the violin and that was done for several reason but mainly financial.
[ Source: Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος: Τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και οι λαϊκοί χοροί της Κύπρου. Λευκωσία, Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου, 1989. ]
Three other instruments that were used in the cypriot folkloric music were the santur (santūr, santour, santoor, dulcimer), the harmonica - a pre descendant of the today’s accordion and the clarinet. They were considered official popular instruments, although they were mainly used in cities, in big gatherings like festivals and balls, in upper class wedding and at the “cafe santan” where a group of artists (called ‘coumpanies’) were playing there. Usually the performers of these instruments were foreigners that came to Cyprus; either they were passing by the country or at a later stage became permanent residents. These musicians were mainly originated from Asia Minor and the rest of the greek territory.
[ Source: Αβέρωφ, Γεώργιος: Τα δημοτικά τραγούδια και οι λαϊκοί χοροί της Κύπρου. Λευκωσία, Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Τραπέζης Κύπρου, 1989. ]