Tangential to the thread, bouzouki lore...
Colin Lindsay wrote: 'I like their legend that an Irishman once went to Portugal, liked the Portuguese bouzouki, and brought one home…
"According to historic documents, it's said that one Irish musician went to Portugal and came across the now extinct Porto-style portuguese guitar. After returning to Ireland, he designed a guitar that mixed the porto-style body with the original greek Bouzouki's neck. Thus making the Irish Bouzouki, an instrument that would be used in Irish folk music”
I wonder if this guy ever met Johnny Moynihan... they could argue over who was first…. '
When I first started playing bouzouki out here in the middle of America people would ask me what, where, how, and all about my instrument, so I went looking for the origin story. The one I tell now is similar to this one, a distillation of what I heard and read from many sources. I tell it with 'fill in the blank' for the names of the player and the luthier because I heard and read so many different folks attributed to being that Player and that Luthier.
The big difference was that the bouzouki of the eastern Mediterranean was the original in the stories I found, not the Portuguese.
It's as likely one as another, tho ... since the name "bouzouki" stuck it might more strongly refer to the eastern types.
Fun stuff, thanks!
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