The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) (Persian: کمانچه, Azerbaijani: kamança, Armenian: Քամանչա, Kurdish: کەمانچە ,kemançe) 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.

Kamancheh

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
Kemancheh Tarhu Shahkaman Ghaychak Rebab Sorahi Kemenche
Musicians
Sayat Nova Ali-Asghar Bahari Kayhan Kalhor Ardeshir Kamkar Saeed Farajpouri Habil Aliev Mehdi Bagheri
Builders
Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr Bayyaz Amir-Ataaie Saeed Maleki Qodratollah Kurdi Emad Kosari

In 2017, the art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/Kamancha was included into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists of Azerbaijan and Iran.[8]

Name and etymology

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 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. 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).

Kamancheh Improvisation Played by Kayhan Kalhor – Silk Road Project

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• 
  Kamancha on the Armenian miniature, XVI or XVII century.
• 
  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.
• 
  Kamancheh player, Kermanshah, Iran, 2008.
• 
  Kamancha player, Yerevan.

Notable kamancheh players

• Habil Aliyev
• Mehdi Bagheri
• Ali-Asghar Bahari
• Mark Eliyahu
• Kayhan Kalhor
• Ardeshir Kamkar
• Sayat-Nova
• Yaara Beeri

See also

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

References

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
• Kamanche, Iran, ca. 1869
• Kamanche, Iran, ca. 1880