The flute - žvegla
Hrvatsko zagorje, the middle of the 19th century
wood
cutting, drilling, ignition

 

length = 28 cm
diameter = 2 cm
length from the side to the bottom of the instrument = 24 cm
length from the side to the bottom of the instrument = 9,8 cm
distance between the finger-holes = 1,1 cm - 1,5 cm

 

Soundtrack: Stjepan Večković, playing the described instrument from the museum collection

 

POH-451/1920
The Collection of Musical instruments by Franjo Ksaver Kuhač

Description

In Hrvatsko zagorje the common name for one whistles and double whistles is žvegla, žveglica or žveglja. It is usually made of maple or elder tree wood, but it can also be made of vine. This flute was made of one piece of soft wood, decorated with burned spots, and according to Kuhač, tuned to E.

Audio recordings

sekundarna/fonoteka/2017/az-14_zveglica_(hrvatsko_zagorje)/21 - zveglica jedinka (hrvatsko zagorje)-451.mp3

Note

The wood selected for making the flute is chiseled and drilled. The drill (or žig) according to Kuhač is owned by “each one of our shepherds, because it is precisely them who make flutes. Moreover, people do not consider someone a shepherd if he cannot make or play the flute.” (Kuhač 1877: 9).