The Balalaika is a three stringed guitar-like instrument which is especially popular in Russia. My first exposure to it came from listening to the recordings of balalaika virtuoso Alex Siniavski and classical guitarist Mikhail Smirnov. Then this evening, I came across another selection of recordings by Alexander Paperny and Sergey Vashchenko who are quite the accomplished performers. Listen to Paperny’s “Rondo A-dur” and then watch Vashchenko play “Flight of the Bumblebee Yikes! I’m wondering whether they were playing the LP at 78 rpm!
You failed to mention the other instrument. . . Russian accordion ( :
I’ve had piano and guitar lessons and done well at neither. But I still consider the guitar harder to play well. Does it take a lot of skill to play the accordian? I don’t know, but am still more impressed with the balalaika.