Zhaleika

Zhaleika is an ancient Russian folk musical instrument belonging to the woodwind group. The exact origin is not known, the first mentions of the zhaleika are in the records of the end of the 18th century.

The instrument is a small tube - about ten, twenty centimeters, made of wood or reed. There are several holes in the side walls of the tube, pinching them with your fingers, you can extract sounds of different heights - strong, somewhat harsh.

If we compare the pity with a related instrument - a shepherd's horn, then his tube expands and ends with a bell, and in a zhaleika the lower end of the cylindrical tube is a separate part and is inserted into the bell. The socket for the instrument is usually made from cow horn or birch bark.

There are two types of tools: single and double pit. The single one was described above, the double one includes two tubes of the same length with play holes, which are located next to each other and are inserted into one common bell.