reminore
Oud Junkie
Posts: 108
Registered: 10-30-2010
Location: Binghamton, NY
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Manolis Venios Lavta 1872 reborn!
this post is a response to mavrothis's post back in may regarding this instrument that was sold at skinner's auction house in boston this past
may...it is an istanbul laouto (in turkish lavta) and was made by manolis venios in 1872 in that city, when he was 35 years old.
it is amazing how little is known about the place of the lafta in the ottoman repertoire - we know the instrument probably was developed in its
present form in the 18th c. it originally did not have a place in an ottoman classical ensemble, but rather was played in the greek taverns of the
city along with a kemence (three stringed fiddle played on the knee). we are told it was the great tamburi cemil bey who elevated the instrument's
status by including it in the ottoman classical ensemble. by the late 19th c., a new form of oud (what we today call turkish) was in full production
by manolis venios and other subsequent makers. the fretless oud, with its larger range and louder voice soon supplanted the lavta as the instrument of
choice by the city's professional musicians, and slowly dwindled away.
the instrument is being rediscovered today, having been popularized by ross daly who first began playing the lavta in the 1980's. makers in both
greece and turkey are creating new lavtas, and its place in the musical repertoire of both countries seems assured.
the story with this particular instrument is as follows - i didn't purchase it at the sale, but rather tracked down the buyer, who teaches medieval
lute in basel switzerland. the instrument had belonged to his teacher, thomas binkley since the 1960's, and had been played on numerous deutsche
grammophon recordings. following long and torturous negotiations, i became the owner of the lavta.
in july, i brought the instrument to tasos theodorakis the luthier in thessaloniki, greece - who probably is the most knowledgable person around
regarding manolis venios and his construction techniques. of course tasos was very excited to see another lavta - very few are known to exist...after
extensive examination, tasos assured me that almost all of the instrument were original venios. the soundboard had seen extensive renovation with
replaced braces sometime in the mid 20th c. or thereabout, the keys were a later replacement, and tasos replaced the teardrop shaped 'heart' where
the fingerboard joins the fretboard with one in ebony, as it was originally. most importantly, he replaced the missing fret guard measured off his
own manol lavta with an appropriate material to the period backed with silver foil as the original ones were done. gut frets were tied on the neck in
the 19th c. style - with fewer microtonal intervals than is fashionable today and the work was done. the timbre and sustain of the instrument, along
with a woody sound brings a tambur to mind more than anything else...
tasos has done a masterful job restoring the integrity of the instrument as a politiko laouto rather than the sad medieval lute that it was when i
brought it to him!
one more interesting bit...when tasos first saw the auction house photographs of the inside taken through the rosette, he insisted that he could see
a hint of a second label under the standard manol label. he was completely correct in his assumption...after we removed the rosette, tasos was able
to solve the mystery by successfully removing the well known later Venios Bros. label in both greek and ottoman turkish with a hand written date of
1872, and reveal a smaller unknown label which reads Emmanouil D. Venios and the printed date of 1872...it seems manolis had cause to repair his own
instrument sometime in the late 19th century, and carefully pasted his new label over his smaller early label...mystery solved! sorry for the long
post - but for those of us searching out the bits of history associated with this most important maker, this kind of find is like the holy grail!
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em.20
Oud Maniac
Posts: 74
Registered: 8-27-2011
Location: Germany
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wow! wonderful piece! i would like to a hear a sound sample.
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Multi Kulti
Oud Junkie
Posts: 252
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: skaataa!
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Kosta congratulations for this beauty and of course to Tasos for the fantastic restauration...
I can tell you that i still cry that i didnt make it to see it in person the time i was in Thessaloniki and of course meet with you too but i hope
next time ...
Play it in good health and enjoy this piece of history you have in your hands.
Nikos
P.S. the foto of the old Romio you gave as a present to Tasos is absolutely amazing!!
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reminore
Oud Junkie
Posts: 108
Registered: 10-30-2010
Location: Binghamton, NY
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thanks niko - it would have been nice if we had all been drinking wine together up at yedi kule! next time we'll make it work...
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mavrothis
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1674
Registered: 6-5-2003
Location: NJ/NYC
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Mood: big band envy
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This is such a great story with such a beautiful outcome. Congratulations to Kosta for such a great acquisition (you deserve it!) and to Taso for
such wonderful work.
It's great to have the past brought back to life, even partially, by instruments like this one. They are not only wonderful to admire in themselves,
but a laouto like this also brings with it the people and world that used to make it sing before most of our own grandparents, or even
great-grandparents, were born.
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this treasure!
Sincerely,
mavrothi
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