"We Have Cimbalom, And They Have The Balalaika."
- 14.10.2026, 9:10
Yet another significant point to add to the list of differences between Belarusians and Russians.
The publication “Solidarnast” continues to explore what sets us apart from the Russians.
The balalaika is one of Russia’s most prominent and recognizable symbols (just like the bear). In Belarusian culture, the cimbalom holds a similar place. And this is yet another significant point to add to the list of differences between Belarusians and Russians.
The cimbalom has been known to humanity for three thousand years. It is played all over the world—from China to Great Britain. An interesting fact: their distant Chinese relative, the yangqin, looks much more like our cimbalom than the geographically closer Hungarian cimbalom, which is common in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine (that instrument is much heavier and more massive, with wooden legs and pedals).
The earliest references to the cimbalom in Belarusian lands date back to the 16th century. Belarusian craftsmen have long used spruce and hornbeam to make the body and stands of the cimbalom, while the mallets are made of maple and cherry wood.
Academic cimbalom appeared about a hundred years ago thanks to the outstanding musicians Yazep Zhinovich and Dmitry Zakhar.
In December 1922, 15-year-old Zhinovich arrived with his cimbalom for an audition at the City Theater in Minsk. At that time, national orchestras were becoming fashionable in the USSR, and Zakhar dreamed of creating his own in Belarus. He became deeply interested in the cimbalom, in which he saw a symbol of Belarusian identity.
Zakhar’s dream came true—Belarus got its own orchestra, which soon received state status. The musician modified the cimbalom and created an entire family of classical instruments for the orchestra.
And in the 1930s, Zhinovich—the future founder of the national school of cimbalom—also got involved in this endeavor. The idea came to him while he was learning to play the xylophone. It was Zhinovich who came up with the idea of placing the cimbalom on a stand to give musicians more freedom of movement for their hands.
Founded in the late 1920s, the orchestra has changed its name and status several times over the course of its history, and dozens of outstanding musicians and composers have passed through its ranks. Since 2003, it has been known as the Zhinovich National Academic Folk Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus. Among its instruments, the Belarusian cimbalom plays a central role.
One of the earliest written references to the balalaika in Russia, dating back to 1700, is rather curious. It describes a fight in which one of the participants struck two others with that very balalaika.
And here is a quote from one of the books by the German memoirist Jakob Stelin, a member of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, dedicated to Tsar Peter I: “From his earliest years, he had never heard anything other than the rough sounds of drums, the field flute, the balalaika, the shepherd’s horn, and the Ukrainian bandura, which can be considered the most delicate of all the instruments known to him”.
It should be noted that the German himself spoke skeptically of the balalaika: “It is not easy to find a home in Russia where a young laborer does not play his little tunes for the maids on this truly unartistic instrument. This instrument is available for sale in all small shops, but its widespread use is further facilitated by the fact that one can make it oneself.”
The balalaika is still strongly associated with Russia. It isn’t particularly popular in Belarus. Our cultural identity was shaped by the sounds of the cimbalom.