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The baliset was a nine-stringed musical instrument, lineal descendant of the zither, tuned to the Chusuk scale and played by strumming. The baliset was a favorite instrument of Imperial troubadors.

Gurney Halleck owned a baliset, and often played it while reciting proverbs or singing folk songs for entertainment. Often he would entertain family members of House Atreides before the attack on Arrakis.

Images of balisets[]

Behind the scenes[]

In the 1984 Dune movie, a baliset was constructed from a modified Chapman Stick, a real world modern instrument. The short cue seen played by Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart) is actually a part of the track Back Yard, played by Emmett Chapman himself (the inventor of the instrument). Notably, the 1984 movie version of the baliset features an electric fan at the bottom. The scene with Gurney playing the baliset was cut in the final release and can be seen only in the extended versions.

In the Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries, the baliset played by Gurney (P. H. Moriarty) resembles a Renaissance era lute, with the pegbox bent back almost 90º.

A scene with a deep-in-thought Gurney (Josh Brolin) playing the baliset, while Duncan Idaho and Atreides soldiers and servants dine and party, was filmed but excluded from the theatrical cut of the 2021 Dune film. The baliset prop's design details can be seen in several close-up photos in the tie-in artbook The Art and Soul of Dune (2021).

In the 2024 sequel film Dune: Part Two, Gurney is reintroduced into the storyline during his downtime aboard a smuggler carryall. He's seen playing the baliset (likely his own), strumming a tune to a rather bitter song he made up about the tough life among his smuggler friends.

Appearances[]

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