{"id":398,"date":"2012-05-03T22:09:52","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T21:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.martindoyleflutes.com\/news\/?p=398"},"modified":"2022-01-09T20:26:54","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T20:26:54","slug":"the-flute-maker-and-the-cittern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martindoyleflutes.com\/news\/2012\/05\/03\/the-flute-maker-and-the-cittern\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flute Maker And The Cittern"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, I was very pleased to receive a call from Martin Doyle<\/a> via Skype this morning. The distance between Martin in Ireland and myself in New Zealand is very close to 12,000 miles. Skype allows us the illusion that we are sitting across the kitchen table from each other and so we chat regularly and sometimes play music to each other. Today our conversation went something like this:<\/p>\n

“Good morning Martin.”<\/p>\n

“Good evening Shardul \u2013 just a minute…”<\/p>\n

… Martin disappears briefly and reappears with an instrument that I at first thought was a bouzouki …<\/p>\n

\"Nikos

Luthier and boat builder Nikos Apollonio with one of his bell citterns.<\/p><\/div>\n

“No, it’s a cittern<\/a>. Just got it. The maker, Nikos Apollonio<\/a>, who is from Maine, dropped it off himself this morning and I haven’t been able to put it down since!”<\/p>\n

Martin proceeded to play some lovely tunes on his brand spanking new cittern \u2013 a beautifully made ten string instrument with a spruce sound board, walnut body and rosewood fretboard. It looked stunning and sounded amazing! Martin commented on its quality and simplicity.<\/p>\n

Over the years I have watched and listened to Martin sing, play whistle, Irish flute, baroque flute, concert flute, banjo, mandolin and bouzouki \u2013 now the cittern. In my opinion, he is a very good musician who plays music from his heart and soul with a real love for quality of sound.<\/p>\n

“What attracted you to the cittern”, asks I.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Always liked it!” says he, strumming away. “But I ordered one from Nikos after seeing a YouTube clip of a young lass playing one of his instruments. It’s a really beautiful piece of music that she composed herself \u2013 see if you can find it.”<\/p>\n

So I did and here it is:
\n‘Sumurun’ played by Helen Marshall on a Nikos Apollonio bell cittern.<\/p>\n