choghur: Azerbaijan musical instrument

The choghur also called Çoğur in Azerbaijan and ჩონგური in Georgia is a plucked string musical instrument that is common in Georgia and Azerbaijan that has 4 nylon strings.

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The choghur has been traced back from the 12^th century to 16^th century, which is the period between the gopuz and the saz. In Iran, Anatolia and in the Sufi traditions, the darvishes and the ashugs made use of instruments called the chaghyr, chagur, chugur, choghur. The name choghur has been assumed to mean “the musical instrument used to appeal to God and truth.” In Azerbaijan, choghur means “to call” or “to appeal.” Some people may assume that the instrument emanated from the words “chal-chaghyr” which means ‘festivity or celebration’ and was later changed to choghur. Many historical sources opined that the musical instrument was used to create and dispense a high battle spirit amongst the soldiers of the medieval Safavid state’s army.

Ali Reza Yalchin in his work titled “Turkmen Times in the South” made it known to the world about the 9 strings, 15 frets and a perfect musical tone quality of the choghur. It is very much possible to come to conclusion from the historical facts that in the 12^th to 13^th centuries, the choghur was used as a replacement for ozan, gopuz, and in the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the choghur was replaced by the saz, although some versions of the choghur that were spreading some Caucasus and among the Iraqi Turkmen have survived until today.

The 19^th century choghur that was stored in the history museum of Azerbaijan has three pairs of strings and about 23 frets on the neck. The body of the musical instrument is produced of the mulberry wood and the top body has a wooden covering that its thickness is about 4mm. also the neck and the head of the musical instrument are all manufactured from nut wood and the peg of pear wood. The total length of the choghur is 880mm, the body is about 400mm long and the wideness of the body is about 225mm being 140mm tall. Two resonators narrow opening are drilled on each side of the body with several holes created on the top of the sound board.