SQUEEZEBOX

SQUEEZEBOX, a pneumatic keyboard musical instru­ment. The body consists of left and right keyboards and bellows between. The sound source consists of free­flowing metal tabs fixed in the slots of metal frames. The right key­ board is designed for playing a melody; the left one is for bass­ chord accompaniment (often with bells). The sound occurs when the bellows are stretched and compressed while pressing the keys (buttons). S. has a diatonic scale.

The S. was brought to Bashkortostan by Russian settlers in the middle of the 19th century. The Bashkirs have had it since the end of the 19th century. The mentions  of  the  S.  as a common instrument among Bashkirs are contained in the records of A.P. Chekhov made in 1890 during his stay in Bash­kortostan, as well as in the book by S.G. Rybakov “Music and songs of the Ural Muslims with an outline of their life”. In the 1930s, workshops for the repair and production of S. began to appear in the region; they were located next to metallurgical plants and in economically developed localities. The skilled manufacturers of S.: P. Batyrov (Dyur­ tyuli), A.R. Rozhentsov (Birsk), T.A. Trofimov (Verkhny Avzyan village, Beloretsk district), brothers I.S. and P.S. Fomenkov (Ufa). From the 2nd half of the 20th century, the original S. by A.A. Batrshin (Chishma village of Chishma dis­ trict), A.E. Gordov (Ufa), N.Z. Zinatullin (Baka­ ly village of Bakaly district), etc. emerged. In the region, the local variants of talyanka (Birsk, Avzyan­Petrovskiy, Dyurtyuli, Ufa, Chishma, etc), baraksin (S. made by the dynasty of Kazan craftsmens Varaksin), Byatka (Vyatka), Russian (Saratov), venka, khromka, etc are widely spread.

S.contributed to the development of chastushkas, the emergence of a specific types of music: Auyl­-kyuy and Uram­-kyuy (village and street tunes), performed at a leisurely pace, often while walking. Well­known S. performers: R.V. Vadutov, S.Sh. Davletbayev (both from Ufa), Ya.Ya. Gazi­zov (Karmaskaly district), G.Sh. Gizatov (Ta­ tyshly district), I.F. Fyodorov (Verkhniy Avzyan village), L.M. Mirzakhanov, A.Z. Kharisov (both from Dyurtyuli district), T.M. Mullayanova (village Chekmagush of Chekmagush district), A.M. Murzin and Ya.Ya. Yansitov (both from Mishkino district), Z.Sh. Mukhayarov, N.K. Sagidullin (Uchaly district), M.S. Sufiyanov (Buraevo dis­trict), Ya.G. Khasanov (Tuymazy), etc. Since 1985, Bashkortostan has hosted the regional sqeezebox festival “Monga bay garmun bayramy” named after F. Iksanov; since 2015, it has hosted the regional festival “Play, Mordovian squeezebox!” etc. In 2013, the city of Yanaul in­ stalled a S. monument.

R.G. Rakhimov