Kamancheh

Name and etymology

The word "kamancheh" means "little bow" in Persian (kæman, bow, and -cheh, diminutive). 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.

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.

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 viola. The end-pin can rest on the knee or thigh while the player is seated in a chair.

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

File:Group of Musicians,, XVIth or XVIIth century.jpg|Kamancha in an Armenian miniature, XVI or XVII century. File:Qajar Miniature (1800 - 1850) by unknown Georgian State Museum of Theatre, Music, Film and Choreography - Art Palace.jpg|Qajar Iran miniature of a woman playing the kamancheh. File:A court musician playing the kemanche, painting by Abul Qasim, Qajar Iran.jpg|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. File:Kamancheh player, harem, Qajar Iran, ca 1820.jpg|Woman playing kamancheh, ca. 1820. File:Sayat-Nova 1964.jpg|The Armenian ashugh Sayat-Nova playing a kamanacheh, ca. 1964. File:Malik Mansurov Mugam Quartet (Azerbaijan) (2).jpg|Azerbaijani kamancheh player Malik Mansurov. File:Kayhan Kalhor performance in Vahdat Hall - 2016 (7).jpg|Kayhan Kalhor performance in Vahdat Hall, Tehran, 2016. File:Kamanche.jpg|Kamancheh player, Kermanshah, Iran, 2008. File:Kamancha in Yerevan.jpg|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

Notes

References

References

1. (2012). "Global Minstrels: Voices of World Music". Elijah Wald.
2. . ["Kamancha"](http://unesco.preslib.az/en/page/FWdGKng1R2). *UNESCO*.
3. Dowsett, Charles. (1997). "Sayatʻ-Nova: an 18th-century troubadour: a biographical and literary study". [[Peeters (publishing company).
4. (19 August 2019). "Iranian Kurdish musician wins prestigious award".
5. (1865). "Pastimes of Central Asians. Musicians. A Man Practising the Kamancha, a Long-necked Stringed Instrument". [[World Digital Library]].
6. (11 April 2015). "Iranian string instrument 'Kamancheh' to be inscribed on UNESCO list".
7. . ["Art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/Kamancha, a bowed string musical instrument"](https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/art-of-crafting-and-playing-with-kamantcheh-kamancha-a-bowed-string-musical-instrument-01286). *UNESCO*.
8. "کمانچه – پارسی ویکی".
9. "Kabak kemane ve Kemancha hakkında rehber".
10. (2013-03-08). "The Masters of Kamanche".
11. (2020). "Music Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia [3 Volumes]". [[ABC-CLIO]].
12. [[Jonathan M. Bloom]], [[Sheila S. Blair]] (Ed.): ''The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture.'' Volume 1. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, p. 8