The trumpet - bučina
Valpovo, the middle of the 19th century
gourd
drying, drilling, cutting
length = 64,5 cm
diameter of the hole = 12 cm
length of pipe = 52 cm
POH-438/1920
The Collection of Musical instruments by Franjo Ksaver Kuhač
The bučina is made of dried gourd. A wooden reed is usually inserted into a small opening through which air is blown. If there there is no reed the instrument is held and played sideways. Parts of the bučina are called a noisemaker (bučilo) and a pipe.
“After the gourd is ripe and the outer skin hardened the gourd is detached from the trunk, because it often climbs along some tree, so as to completely dry on the inside. After drying, the bottom part is cut, and meat and seeds are taken out, the top part of the pipe (spike) is cut and cleaned using twigs or wire. After shortly holding this cleaned gourd above the low fire to burn leftover hair, and then the bučina is finished, so you can blow into it.” (Kuhač 1878: 28)
