Bulgarian bramkalo bullroarer

бръмкало (bramkalo)

Source term: БРЪМКАЛО

бръмкало (bramkalo) = 'buzzer', instrument-noun from бръмча 'to buzz, hum'.

Bulgarian boys learned the bramkalo at home, from fathers and grandfathers who taught them to make their own sound toys. Whirled in a circle, the little board slid from low drones to high wails, louder and softer with the speed of the arm — 'sound pictures,' the Burgas museum calls them, of wind and the howling of animals. The name says it plainly: bramkalo, from bramcha, 'to buzz.'

Изработва се от тънка, суха, малка дъсчица, привързана за дълъг канап до 70-80см.

It is made from a thin, dry, small wooden board tied to a long cord up to 70-80 cm.

Regional Historical Museum Burgas, 'Bulgarian Folk Music Toys,' bramkalo section.

Particulars

Object

Thin, dry, small wooden board tied to a single long cord, up to 70-80 cm, and whirled in a circle.

Function

Children's sound toy in Bulgarian folk practice; the museum frames these homemade sound toys as family-taught boys' play, with pitch sliding low to high and 'sound pictures' of wind and animal howls.