Lutarina

The Lutarina is an instrument unique to this Calabrian era. Invented by the virtuoso player Aegerion less than a hundred years ago, it has been adopted and refined by the many fine instrument makers and bards across the country.

It has a relatively soft and spry tone, which is amplified by the resonating body, resulting in a sound and strength just right for accompaniment to vocal performances and in ensembles.

The early models of the Lutarina had twelve strings, but it was found that for almost no purposes was such an extreme number of plucking possibilities necessary. The number of strings was subsequently reduced to ten and finally eight. The modern Lutarina is considerably easier to play than its predecessors, which has increased the interest in minstrel career movement among the young cubs of Calabria.

It is rumoured that a six-stringed version of the Lutarina is under development, but such feeble fancies have been denounced by the recently formed Guild of Minstrels in Triskellian. A spokesman claims:
"Why, with six strings, practically anyone could learn to play it. Nobody in their right mind would consider making such an instrument!".