Çeng
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| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 322.12 (Angular open harp) |
| Related instruments | |
The çeng is a Turkish harp. It was a popular Ottoman instrument until the last quarter of the 17th century.
The ancestor of the Ottoman harp is thought to be an instrument seen in ancient Assyrian tablets. While a similar instrument also appears in Egyptian drawings.
In the late 20th century, instrument makers and performers began to revive the çeng, with newer designs incorporating advanced tuning mechanisms such as those found on the kanun. Tone bending is also possible, by pressing on the string behind the bridge. Whereas the soundbox on the old çeng was on the upper part of the instrument, modern instruments have the soundbox on the lower part.
In 1995, Fikret Karakaya, a kemençe player from Turkey, made a çeng using the descriptions in the masnavi "Çengname" by the Turkish poet Ahmed-i Dai, and from Iranian and Ottoman miniatures from the 15th and 16th centuries. He presently plays and records with the instrument.
The second çeng in Turkey was recently made by Mehmet Soylemez, an instrument maker and master's degree graduate student at Istanbul Technical University, for Şirin Pancaroğlu, the primary harpist of Turkey. She has started to explore this ancient instrument and will soon record with it.
In the United States, New England Conservatory of Music ethnomusicology professor Robert Labaree plays and records with the instrument.
The çeng belongs to the family of instruments known in organology as "open harps," which are further divided into the "bow harps" and the "square harps." The çeng is in the latter groups.
Of the square harps used for 2,500 years in not only the Middle East but in Central Asia and the Far East as well, the Ottoman çeng was the last to fall into disuse.
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Wikipedia