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Citera

The Hungarian citera is a European folk zither related to the the German concert zither, autoharp, and Appalachian dulcimer. The citera has four or five main strings that are fretted plus a number of drone and incidental strings. The first course of strings run over diatonically spaced frets, while the second course have the other frets to provide a fully chromatic scale. The citera does not have a back but when played on a table for amplification, it has a very strident sound. Traditionally the citera is played with a four string cello-shaped instrument known as a cordon that is struck with a stick as a percussive background.

Country: Hungary
Region: Europe
Type: zither

Hungarian citera
©  R. Raine-Reusch, May 2002