Bandola Strings
A flat-backed lute of South Central America, descended from the bandurria. The modern bandola of Columbia has a teardrop shape, with a flat or concave back. It has six courses of strings, three steel strings in each of the four upper courses, and two copper-wound strings in each of the two lower courses, tuned f#-b-e'-a'-d"-g". It is played with a plectrum and, as in mandolin playing, a note may be sustained by a tremolo. The bandola is used in Chilean Andean music, where it accompanies solo shepherd songs, and in the Guatemalan Zarabanda. Courtesy of New Grove DMI © 1995.








