Lezo whetstone burrunda

burrunda

burrunda: the Lezo name for the burruna, the Basque bullroarer.

Every scythe in the hay meadows of Gipuzkoa had its whetstone, a long narrow stone drawn along the blade to keep its edge. Mikel Salaberria, born in 1932 on the Martizkone farm at Lezo, turned one into a burrunda when he was about twelve. The stone could be tied to its cord in two ways: by boring a hole through one end, slow and stubborn work, or by cutting a notch for the string to bite. He played it on his own, never with a group.

Harria sokarekin bi modutan lotzen omen zen: mutur batean kostata zuloa eginda edo bestela koska bat eginez.

The stone was tied to the cord in two ways: by boring a hole at one end, which took some doing, or else by cutting a notch.

Soinuenea, Euskal Herriko soinu-tresnen entziklopedia, “Burruna” (Mikel Salaberria, recorded by Juan Mari Beltran, 2010)

Particulars

Object

A scythe whetstone tied to a cord, either through a hole bored with difficulty at one end or in a notch cut for it; reconstructed to Mikel Salaberria’s description in 2010 (JMB 1432).

Function

A boy’s sound toy, played alone; Salaberria played it at about twelve, in the 1940s.