Çeng: Azerbaijan musical instrument

The Çeng is known as a Turkish harp. It was seen as a popular ottoman musical instrument until the ending part of the 17^th century. Çeng is a word derived from the Persian word “chang” which connotes “harp.” It also means “five fingers” a similar instrument believed to be an ancestor of this instrument was said to be an instrument that was found in the ancient Assyrian tablets. Also a similar instrument appears in Egyptian drawings.

          

  Instrument producers and players started the revival of the Çeng in the 20^th century giving it some newer designs and giving it an advanced tuning mechanism such as those found on the kanun. Tone bending became possible by pressing on the string behind the bridge. Also the soundbox that was on the old Çeng was fixed on the upper division of the instrument, but most modern instruments do have their soundboxes on the lower part of the instrument.

            A kemence player from Turkey, Fikret Karakaya, in 1995 produced a Çeng using the explanations in the masnavi ‘cengname’ by a Turkish poet Ahmed-I Dai, he also did that following the description in Iranian and ottoman miniatures from the 15^th and 16^th century and currently, he plays and records music with the instrument.  

            An instrument producer and master’s degree graduate student at Istanbul Technical University, Mehmet Soylemez recently made the second Çeng in Turkey for the primary harpist of Turkey called Sirin Pancaroglu. Professor Robert Labaree, New England Conservatory of Music ethnomusicology, plays and records music with this musical instrument in the United States.

            The Çeng is believed to be a member of the of the ‘open harp’ family which was later divided into the ‘bow harps’ and the ‘square harp’ where the Çeng is belonging to.

            The father of the ottoman Çeng which was a metaphor in the ottoman poetry for one in love doubled over I agony from a lover’s cruelty. The instrument gained some certain features in Istanbul. The Persian manuscript, Kenzut-Tuhaf that was written in the 14^th century gave detailed information on the Çeng.