Kamancheh
Woman playing the kamancheh in a painting from the Hasht Behesht Palace in Isfahan Persia, 1669.
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| String instrument | |
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| Other names | Kamancha, Kamanche, Kemancheh, Kamanjah, Kabak kemane |
| Classification | Bowed Strings |
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The Kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) (Persian: کمانچه, Azerbaijani: kamança), is an Iranian bowed string instrument, used also in Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Kurdish Music and related to the rebab, the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and also to the bowed Byzantine lyra, ancestor of the European violin family. The strings are played with a variable-tension bow: the word "kamancheh" means "little bow" in Persian (kæman, bow, and -cheh, diminutive). It is widely used in the classical music of Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kurdistan Regions with slight variations in the structure of the instrument.
Traditionally kamanchehs had three silk strings, but modern instruments have four metal strings. Kamanchehs may have highly ornate inlays and elaborate 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.
A well known Armenian kamancha player is Sayat-Nova. Other well known players are Ali-Asghar Bahari, Ardeshir Kamkar and Kayhan Kalhor, all from Iran, and the Azeri player, Habil Aliev.
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