"The Museum of Ethnography's latest exhibition presents visitors with a broad sampling of musical instruments from all over the world. Both the exhibition and related publications have been created with a view to the celebration of the Bartók Jubileum.The exhibition gives visitors an opportunity to discover the variety in world musical cultures, to explore the similarities and differences between various instruments, and to learn about the systems used for classifying them. The Museum of Ethnography houses some three thousand folk instruments from all over the globe, many of which were among its first acquisitions.
The rich body of material collected by János Xántus in Southeast Asia between 1869 and 1870, for example, included ninety instruments and parts of instruments. Additional music-related objects were brought home by Count Jenő Zichy from his expedition to Russia and East Asia. Of these, Ostyak (Khanty) shaman drums, a bone mouth harp, a two-string violin, various types of harp, and a number of song-counting sticks were displayed as part of a temporary exhibition in 1899.
The collection of domestic musical instruments was begun only later and proceeded at a more modest pace. During the 1900s, Béla Bartók traveled to Algeria to collect Arab music. While his research among the Slovaks and Romanians is well-known, Bartók also worked with the Turks and other Asiatic peoples. Other research projects of international significance include those of Bálint Sárosi in Africa and László Vikár in Asia.
Today, one often encounters the musical instruments of distant cultures, including those outside Europe, at world music festivals. The success of such instruments is in part attributable to their exotic appearance and sound.
Open until 3 August 2008
Source: Museum of Ethnography
18.07.2008