World & Folk Instruments

The Baroq-ulele is a Roosebeck original that combines the familiar four-string ukulele tuning and playing technique with a lute-style ribbed bowl back. The body shape and construction come from the Baroque lute tradition; the string setup and tuning come from the ukulele. The result is an instrument that sounds warmer and more complex than a standard ukulele, with the rounded projection of a lute body, but is played in exactly the same way as any four-string uke. It is available in tenor and baritone scale lengths.

Both instruments use a lute-style bowl back and four strings, but the lute-kulele leans further toward the lute in its construction and voice. The body is scaled closer to a small historical lute, and the resulting sound is slightly more lute-like in projection and tone. If you want the convenience of ukulele tuning with the warmth of a folk lute, the lute-kulele gets you closer to the lute end of that spectrum than the Baroq-ulele does.

The balalaika is a Russian folk instrument with a distinctive triangular body and three strings. The prima balalaika, which is the standard solo and ensemble size, is tuned E-E-A: two strings in unison on the lower courses, one string a fourth above. This gives the instrument its characteristic bright, cutting tone that carries clearly through an ensemble. It is played with a leather or plastic plectrum using rapid strumming techniques that produce the fast rhythmic figures of Russian folk music.