// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Kamancheh say? I'm bow-ed to you.
 Persian Kamānches, ca. 1880 | |
| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Kamancha, Kamanche, Kemancheh, Kamanjah, Kabak kemane |
| Classification | Bowed strings |
| Developed | Iran |
| Playing range | |
| g3-e7 | |
| Related instruments | |
| Musicians | |
| Builders | |
| Sound sample | |
| Art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/Kamancha, a bowed string musical instrument | |
|---|---|
| Country | Azerbaijan and Iran |
| Reference | 01286 |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2017 (13th session) |
| List | Representative |
The kamancheh[a] is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian,[1] Azerbaijani,[2] Armenian,[3] Kurdish,[4] Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek music with slight variations in the structure of the instrument.[5][6]
The kamancheh is related to the rebab which is the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and the bowed Byzantine lyra.[7] 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 Iran and Azerbaijan.[8]
Name and etymology
[edit]The word "kamancheh" means "little bow" in Persian (kæman, bow, and -cheh, diminutive).[9]
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.[10]
Structure
[edit]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.[11]
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.[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.[6]
Kamancheh is usually tuned like an ordinary violin (G, D, A, E).
Kamancha in an Armenian miniature, XVI or XVII century.
Miniature of a woman playing the kamancheh, 1800–1850, Qajar Iran.
Court musician playing the kamancheh, school of Abu'l Qasim, 1800–1825, Qajar Iran.[12]
Woman playing the kamancheh, school of Abu'l Qasim, ca. 1820, Qajar Iran.
The Armenian ashugh Sayat-Nova playing a kamanacheh, ca. 1964.
Azerbaijani kamancheh player Malik Mansurov.
Kamancheh player, Kermanshah, Iran, 2008.
Kamancha player, Yerevan.
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Notable kamancheh players
[edit]- 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
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music. Elijah Wald. 2012. p. 227. ISBN 9781135863685.
- ↑ "Kamancha". UNESCO.
In the Republic of Azerbaijan it constitutes a major element of classical and folkloric music, and performances occupy a central place in a wide number of social and cultural gatherings.
- ↑ Dowsett, Charles (1997). Sayatʻ-Nova: an 18th-century troubadour: a biographical and literary study. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. p. 4. ISBN 90-6831-795-4.
- ↑ "Iranian Kurdish musician wins prestigious award". Kurdistan24. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ↑ "Pastimes of Central Asians. Musicians. A Man Practising the Kamancha, a Long-necked Stringed Instrument". World Digital Library. 1865. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- 1 2 Martin, Andrew R.; Mihalka, Matthew Ph.D., eds. (2020). Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia [3 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 442. ISBN 9781610694995.
- ↑ "Iranian string instrument 'Kamancheh' to be inscribed on UNESCO list". mehrnews.com. 11 April 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
- ↑ "Art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/Kamancha, a bowed string musical instrument". UNESCO.
- ↑ "کمانچه – پارسی ویکی". loghatnaameh.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-17.
- ↑ "Kabak kemane ve Kemancha hakkında rehber". www.frmtr.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-14. Retrieved 2014-07-05.
- ↑ Chandrakausika, R.A.M. (2013-03-08). "The Masters of Kamanche". A World Heritage Of Native Music. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
- ↑ Jonathan M. Bloom, Sheila S. Blair (Ed.): The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. Volume 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, p. 8
Further reading
[edit]- Blum, Stephen (2010). "KAMĀNČA". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. XV/4: Kafir Kala–Ḵamsa of Jamāli. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 434–437. ISBN 978-1-934283-26-4.
- Libin, Laurence, ed. (2014). "Kamāncheh [k'aman, kamanche, kemence] (Pers. 'little bow')". The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2 ed.). Oxford University Press.
External links
[edit]
- Nay-Nava: The Encyclopedia of Persian Music Instruments
- Kamanche, Iran, ca. 1869
- Kamanche, Iran, ca. 1880
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