The Hedeby Rebec by Instruments of Antiquity

This is the updated first episode of the Instruments of Antiquity Compendium of Very Early Period Instruments. In this episode I will give some insight into the historic artifact, and the process of development of this early bowed fiddle. As a builder, this video focuses more on the technical aspects of the instrument, and includes a brief playing demonstration.
Special thanks to Bruce Arnold for the lighting and video recording.
Check out our website at www.instrumentsofantiquity.com for more information on this and all the other Instruments of Antiquity offerings.

[@linusorri]

Really interesting. Would love to see more videos like this.

[@kevinharris7426]

Please stop not posting. This is fascinating stuff and you make such a wide variety of instruments. Love to see more.

[@robabnawaz]

More videos of this kind plz. Extremely usfull.

[@rebecafranco6347]

There is also a rebec player carved in a capital from Madinat al-Azhara, Córdoba (Spain), dated to mid 10th century. The relative size and shape is very similar to the one in Hedeby. ceres.mcu.es/pages/Viewer?accion=4&Museo=&AMuseo=MAECO&Ninv=DOCC133&txt_id_imagen=2&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0

[@robabnawaz]

This link doesn't work :-(

[@curvingfyre6810]

Wow, this was fascinating. I never knew that there were rebecs in europe before they came in from the byzantines. As for the look of the thing, I seem to remember seeing a chinese traditional instrument with a similar layout. Considering that bowed instruments seem to have originated in the far east, is it possible that this came from there, and diverged from the more famous rebec family before they hit the middle east?

[@verkmastare]

The rebec did originate in Europe. The concept of bowed stringed instruments did not. The more famous rebec family grew from this instrument or something very similar. The Hedeby instrument is the earliest known European-designed and built fiddle. Through the trade routes at that time small spike fiddles were known from the East, but complex carved body instruments in this family were not, the examples instead being similar to the earliest rabab which had membrane soundboards, spike necks and gourd or coconut shell bodies. This instrument is separate from those fiddles in the same way a violin is separate from the rebec - they are all stringed fiddles but the technology employed by the designer changed the instrument dramatically, creating something 'new' (like the difference between a gourd banjer and an American resonator banjo). This instrument as far as we can tell precedes the bowed Gusli and the bowed lyra, and so marks the 'Europization' of the fiddle and the anchor from which it would develop in the west. It is not so much of a great origin of concept as the current origin of execution, the move from the spike fiddle to the single piece corpus built fiddle.

[@lilbobby9345]

rebex