Introduction to Mythology


 

Professional Storytellers

 

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Bards were professional poets of ancient and medieval Europe, who were paid by a nobleman or monarch to sing traditional stories and compose and perform new stories, usually to the accompaniment of a lute or harp.

 

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Minstrels were itinerant European bards who performed songs and recited poems about distant places and real or fictional historical events.

 

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Troubadours were composers and performers of lyric poetry in the Occitan area of France during the High Middle Ages (ca. 1100–1350 A.D.).

 

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Ashiks are mystic troubadours or traveling bards of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Iran, who sing and play the "saz," a type of lute. (Play Video)

 


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