bandura

noun

1. A Ukrainian plucked stringed instrument with a tear-shaped body, like an asymmetrical lute or a vertical zither, which is played with both hands while held upright on the lap.

   “He touches the strings and pours forth a song descriptive of his live, his wanderings, his anguish, and is discovered by the magic tones of the bandura, his adventures, above all, by his voice and passionate fire.”

   “The whole night passed amid shouts, songs, and rejoicings; and the rising moon gazed long at troops of musicians traversing the streets with bandouras, flutes, round balalaikas, and the church choir, who were kept in the Setch to sing in church and glorify the deeds of the Zaporozhtzi.”

   “I have an old bandura hanging up on the wall in the hut. Opanás taught me to play on it, but there is no one to play it after me; and when I die, and that may be soon, perhaps nowhere in the wide world will one be found to play the bandura.”

   “'Thank you, master, for your lesson. I will sing you a song if you will listen;' and he touched a string of the bandura.”

   “It was only at this time that bandura players emerged from underground. They had been banned from playing under the Tsar, and then they emerged and began to remind everyone openly about their Cossack past and to awaken feelings of nationalism in young children.”