Kamancheh: Azerbaijan musical instrument

Kamancheh is a Persian bowed instrument that is related to the bowed rebab which is regarded by many to be the ancestor of the kamancheh. It is also related to the bowed lira of the Byzantine Empire which is regarded by many to be the ancestor of the violin family. The strings of the instrument are played with a variable tension bow. The word kamancheh means “little bow” in the Persian language. It is widely used in the production of classical music in Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kurdistan Region with little differences in the structure of the instrument.

Traditionally, the instrument is made with three silk strings, although some modern instruments have four strings that are of metal. The kamancheh might have excessive decorative inlays and fancy carved tuning pegs. The body of the instrument has a long upper neck together with a lower bowl-shaped resonating chamber that is produced from a gourd or wood and usually carved using a membrane made from animal skin such as goat, sheep, and lamb and sometimes from fish on which the bridge can be set.  The English instrument can be called ‘spiked fiddle’ because the bottom juts out a spike to support the instrument while a performer is playing it. It can be played sitting down and holding it just like a cello though it is about the length of a viola and the end-pin could rest on the knee or high while seating down.

The Turkish and the Armenian Kemenche is a bowed string musical instrument that has a very similar and identical name but it varies significantly in sound and structure of the Persian kamancheh. Persian traditional classical music also uses the ordinary violin with Persian tuning. The kamancheh and the ordinary violin have the same range and are tuned in the same way but the quality of the musical tone differs because of the differing sound boxes.