FW: [Fujara] Let's talk about tuning!!!

[Rychlik, Bob]

Hi everyone!
This is a big thing for fujarists here in Slovakia,
and everyone seems to either demand perfect tuning or
say that "tuning is not a real important quality on
the fujara." So here, we have two camps. Also,
contrary to what some say, not every fujara is in tune
with herself. In fact, when you hear that, two things
may have happened. One, there is a sale to be made, or
two, the maker and the seller are selling an
ethnographic artifact, and not the western idea of a
musical instrument. One misplaced hole and you have a
very different scale... sometimes bordering on a
bizarre version of arabic. Trust me, I have played
some with perfect tuning and some that were, to say
the least, "strange."
In my time here in Slovakia, I not only learnd the
language, but also made some great friends and have
played a few festivals on fujara here. Nothing big
(yet) except when I played in Ocova and stood among
Pavol Smutny, Karol Kocik, and Dusan Holik. Yep, I am
bragging. (just kidding.) Dusan and I became great
friends, and therefore I hope you don't mind me
translating his idea of what makes a good fujara.
So here are the Ten commandments of a good fujara,
according to Dusan Holik:
Ten points towards a good fujara.
1.A fujara is a musical instrument, and this should be
taken into consideration throughout the whole of
production.
2. It must have an adequately strong, yet soft, velvet
tone that sounds through all registers without hissing
when given a stronger breath
3. Playing should be natural and easy, without a
problem with losing breath and the player can
completely dedicate himself to the song, not to the
fujara.
4. On all overtones (3 closed holes) the fujara should
react to vibrato, the tone must react to every
movement of the fingers.
5. The intonation must be pure and up a major scale.
After all, the fujara is a musical instrument.
6. When given a strong "whoosh" of air that lasts
about a second, all overtones should be heard from the
lowest to the highest.
7. On a G major fujara (170cm) should be possible to
play the following tones: Great G, g, g1, g2, g3- or
four octaves with the pure major scale from g- g2
8. When given a strong scatter the fujara should not
allow any holes or quiet spaces on the way down, and
in the "two-line" octave almost all overtones should
be heard.
9. The perfect fujara deserves perfect decoration.
Let's learn to understand wood and push back the
bridal-veil, let her show her true beauty.
10. The Fujara must have a "soul." Only then can a
fujarist play by his heart and become an equal partner
in the conversation with the fujara.

We speak about people having "conversations" with
their instruments here, and this is not foreign to
those who play jazz.
Also, Jozo Rybar, an OLD legend on the fujara here,
spoke of the soul of the fujara. Now it is the ideal.
He also said something along the lines that he could
tell if a fujara was made with love or just because.
Don't have the quote in front of me now, but you get
the idea.
Have a good one!
Ben Sorensen