Playing music on samica (type of tambura)

Samica/tamburica (sometimes: tambura, or tambure pl.) belongs to a family of plucked string instruments. They are characteristic of so-called Dinaric culture and traditionally used as solo instruments due to specific melody-harmonic nature (samica means “the solitary one”), and even when more than one is played they all play the same tune.

Samice are used to play melodies of dances and songs, and samičar, the person playing them, generally starts the song. The repertoire consists of folk dances typical of the local region, where some were brought from other regions (most commonly Slavonia) while others were added in the repertoire later during the life in Serbia.