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
The kamancheh has a long neck including fingerboard which kamancheh maker shapes it as a truncated inverse cone for easy bow moving in down section, pegbox in both side 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 ivorytuning 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. It is played sitting down held like a cello though it is about the length of a viol. 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).
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.[12]
Woman playing kamancheh, ca. 1820.
The Armenian ashugh Sayat-Nova playing a kamanacheh, ca. 1964.
Azerbaijani kamancheh player Malik Mansurov.
Kayhan Kalhor performance in Vahdat Hall, Tehran, 2016.
^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.
^"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.
^ a bMartin, 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". 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". 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
Blum, Stephen (2010). "KAMĀNČA". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume 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
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kamancheh.
Nay-Nava: The Encyclopedia of Persian Music Instruments