Kemenche

Kemenche (Turkish: kemençe, Persian : کمانچه) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.^[1] and regions adjacent to the Black Sea. These instruments are folk instruments, generally having three strings and played held upright with their tail on the knee of the musician.^[2] The name Kemenche derives from the Persian Kamancheh, meaning a "small bow".^[3]

Variations

The Kemençe of the Black Sea (Turkish: Karadeniz kemençesi), also known as Pontic kemenche or Pontic lyra (Greek: Ποντιακή λύρα), is a box-shaped lute (321.322 in the Hornbostel-Sachs system), while the classical kemençe (Turkish: Klasik kemençe or Armudî kemençe, Greek: Πολίτικη Λύρα) is a bowl-shaped lute (321.321).

Other bowed instruments have names sharing the same Persian etymology include the kamancheh (or Kabak kemane in Turkish), a spike lute (321.31), and the Cappadocian kemane, an instrument closely related to the kemenche of the Black Sea with added sympathetic strings. Circassians have a similar instrument named the Shikepshine which means horse tail violin.

References

^ McCollum, Jonathan (2014). "Kamancha." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Second Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199743391.
^ Hugo Pinksterboer, Tipbook: Cello (2002), p. 106.
^ "Middle East Focus" (PDF). TheStrad.com: 50–52. July 2007. The Persian word for bow is kaman, and kamancheh is the diminutive form.^{[dead link‍]}