Tamburica ( or ) or tamboura (; ; ; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza), refers to a family of long-necked lutes popular in Southern Europe and Central Europe, especially Serbia (in Vojvodina, Mačva and Posavo-Tamnava), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (of which it is the national string instrument), Slovenia, and Hungary ( predominantly amongst its ethnic South Slavic minority groups). It is also known in Burgenland, Austria. All took their name and some characteristics from the Persian tanbur but also resemble the mandolin and guitar in the sense that its strings are plucked and often paired. The frets may be moveable to allow the playing of various modes. The variety of tamburica shapes known today were developed in Serbia and Croatia by a number of indigenous contributors near the end of the 19th century. History There is little reliable data showing how the tamboura entered Central Europe. It already existed during Byzantine Empire, and the Greeks and Slavs used to call "pandouras" (see pandoura) or "tambouras" the ancestor of modern bouzouki. The instrument was referred to as θαμπούριν, thambourin in the Byzantine Empire (confer Digenis Akritas, Escorial version, vv. 826–827, ed. and transl. Elizabeth Jeffrey). It is said it was probably brought by the Turks to Bosnia, from where the instrument spread further with migrations of Šokci and Bunjevci above the Sava River to all parts of Croatia, Serbia and further, although this theory is not consistent with the generally accepted view that the ancestor of the tamboura is the ancient Greek pandouris. Until the Great Migration of the Serbs at the end of the 17th century, the type of tambura most frequently used in Croatia and Serbia had a long neck and two or three strings (sometimes doubled). Similar string instruments include the Czech bratsche, Turkish saz and the sargija, çiftelia and bouzouki. The oldest surviving and authenticated tambura known, which is still kept in a museum in Osijek, dates from 1847 and was owned by Pajo Kolarić of Osijek, who was also the founder of the first amateur tamburica orchestra. In honour of him, a festival called tamburitzan is held every year in Osijek. The development process of the modern tamburica was initiated by several Serbian and Croatian citizens over a period of time. The original long neck, pear shaped tamburica was called the samica and it came in a small or larger size. The kontra, which had 4