Hurdy-gurdy Hungarian lowlands, but was the normal term for the instrument on Csepel island directly south of Budapest. The equivalent names "ninera" and "niněra" are used in Slovakia and the Czech Republic respectively. In Russian and Ukrainian the instrument is called "wheel lyre" ("колёсная лира", "колісна ліра"). In Poland it is called "cranked lyre" (lira korbowa). "Leier", "lant", and related terms today are generally used to refer to members of the lute or lyre family, but historically had a broader range of meaning and were used for many types of stringed instruments. In her overview of the instrument's history, Palmer recorded
Valentin Clastrier Valentin Clastrier French musician Valentin Clastrier (born 1947) is one of the few performers in the world specializing in contemporary music for the hurdy-gurdy; before Clastrier, the instrument was used primarily in the performance of European Medieval and folk musics. He began his career as a guitarist, and was introduced to the hurdy-gurdy in 1970. His instrument has 27 strings rather than the conventional six. Since 2006 Clastrier works together with Wolfgang Weichselbaumer on a new prototype. Clastrier's strikingly original compositions for the instrument (in both acoustic and electroacoustic versions) have been recorded, in collaboration with other creative European musicians