Kamancheh

File:Kamancheh.jpg

Kamancheh

The kamanchehTemplate:Efn is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Azerbaijani,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Armenian,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Kurdish,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek music with slight variations in the structure of the instrument.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=abc/>

The kamancheh is related to the rebab which is the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and the bowed Byzantine lyra.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The strings are played with a variable-tension bow.

In 2017, the art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/Kamancha was included into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists of Azerbaijan and Iran.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Name and etymology

The word "kamancheh" means "little bow" in Persian (kæman, bow, and -cheh, diminutive).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Turkish word kemençe is borrowed from Persian, with the pronunciation adapted to Turkish phonology.

It also denotes a bowed string instrument, but the Turkish version differs significantly in structure and sound from the Persian kamancheh.

There is also an instrument called kabak kemane literally "pumpkin-shaped bow instrument" used in Turkish music which is only slightly different from the Iranian kamancheh.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Structure

The kamancheh has a long neck including the fingerboard, which the kamancheh maker shapes as a truncated inverse cone for easy bow movement in the down section, pegbox in both sides of which four pegs are placed, and finial<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Traditionally kamanchehs had three silk strings, but modern instruments have four metal strings.

Kamanchehs may have highly ornate inlays and elaborately carved ivory tuning pegs.

The body has a long upper neck and a lower bowl-shaped resonating chamber made from a gourd or wood, usually covered with a membrane made from the skin of a lamb, goat or sometimes a fish, on which the bridge is set.

From the bottom protrudes a spike to support the kamancheh while it is being played, hence in English, the instrument is sometimes called the spiked fiddle.Template:Citation needed

It is played sitting down held like a cello though it is about the length of a viola. The end-pin can rest on the knee or thigh while the player is seated in a chair.<ref name="abc">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Kamancheh is usually tuned like an ordinary violin (G, D, A, E).

• Kamancha in an Armenian miniature, XVI or XVII century.
  Kamancha in an Armenian miniature, XVI or XVII century.
• Qajar Iran miniature of a woman playing the kamancheh.
  Qajar Iran miniature of a woman playing the kamancheh.
• A woman playing the kamancheh. Detail from a wall painting in which Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is surrounded by musicians and dancers. Painted by Abuʾl-Qasim, dated 1816.<ref>Jonathan M. Bloom, Sheila S. Blair (Ed.): The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Volume 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, p. 8 </ref>
  A woman playing the kamancheh. Detail from a wall painting in which Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is surrounded by musicians and dancers. Painted by Abuʾl-Qasim, dated 1816.<ref>Jonathan M. Bloom, Sheila S. Blair (Ed.): The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Volume 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, p. 8 </ref>
• Woman playing kamancheh, ca. 1820.
  Woman playing kamancheh, ca. 1820.
• The Armenian ashugh Sayat-Nova playing a kamanacheh, ca. 1964.
  The Armenian ashugh Sayat-Nova playing a kamanacheh, ca. 1964.
• Azerbaijani kamancheh player Malik Mansurov.
  Azerbaijani kamancheh player Malik Mansurov.
• Kayhan Kalhor performance in Vahdat Hall, Tehran, 2016.
  Kayhan Kalhor performance in Vahdat Hall, Tehran, 2016.
• Kamancheh player, Kermanshah, Iran, 2008.
  Kamancheh player, Kermanshah, Iran, 2008.
• Kamancha player, Yerevan.
  Kamancha player, Yerevan.

Notable kamancheh players

• Habil Aliyev
• Mehdi Bagheri
• Ali-Asghar Bahari
• Mark Eliyahu
• Kayhan Kalhor
• Ardeshir Kamkar
• Kourosh Babaei
• Sayat-Nova
• Mostafa Taleb
• Yaara Beeri
• Mehrnam Rastegari

See also

• List of bowed stringed instruments
• Music of Armenia
• Music of Iran
• Music of Azerbaijan
• Byzantine lira
• Haegeum
• Rebab
• Silk Road Ensemble

Further reading

• Template:Encyclopaedia Iranica
• Template:Cite encyclopedia

External links

• Nay-Nava: The Encyclopedia of Persian Music Instruments
• Kamanche, Iran, ca. 1869
• Kamanche, Iran, ca. 1880