The livenka (Russian: ливенка) or Livenskaya garmoshka (Russian: Ливенская гармошка) is a specific variety of accordion used in Russian folk music, specifically in the region around the city of Livni (Orel Oblast), from which the instrument takes its name.

Physical description

• The livenka is a unisonoric instrument, meaning that each button produces the same tone, regardless of the direction of the bellows.
• The right-hand buttons play the notes of a mixolydian mode.
• The left-hand levers play intervals of thirds or fourths, so that adjacent levers operated simultaneously will play a triad.
• The livenka has a very long bellows, when compared to other accordions-- sometimes having forty folds, and extending to over a meter in length.

History

The name of the inventor of the livenka was not preserved. It is believed to have been developed in the second half of the 19th century as a modification of German button accordions.

External links

• Ливенская гармошка (Livenskaya garmoshka)
• Squeezebox 101: A Beginner's Field Guide to Hand-Held Bellows-Driven Free-Reed Musical Instruments"