Bag - mišnice
Kistanje, the 1st half of the 20th century
wood, leather
cutting, drilling, tanning, carving
length of the chanter = 22,4 cm
length of the bag = 54,5 cm
Et 9086
The Collection of Musical Instruments
The mišnice consist of animal skin, a chanter and a blowpipe. Another name used for this instrument was the diple (double pipe) (which in fact only relates to its one part). Considering that the bag is made of animal skin, a richly carved plank is used on the bottom to cover leg holes. A wooden pipe through which the air is blown in (blowpipe - puhalica, dulac) is inserted at the top. The holes on the chanter are arranged 6:2 and there is one air hole on the side.
When playing this instrument the player first has to inflate the bag, i.e. he has to blow the air through the blowpipe, fill the bag with the air and close the chanter opening so as not to let the air escape. Once the bag is inflated, a part of the chanter is unfurled (in order to let the air flow) and the player presses the bag with his elbow, and he uses his other hand to play the chanter. Širola writes about famous diple players from Kistanje: Nikola and Danilo Perić, and Manojlo Vujanić. He listened when Vujanić was playing and wrote about this while he was doing field research in 1920.
