komuz: Azerbaijian musical instrument

The komuz or qomuz or Azeri Gopuz or kopuz in Turkish local language is an ancient fretless stringed instrument that is used in the central Asian music and it is related to some other Turkic string musical instruments and the lute. It is known as the best national instrument and one of the better-known Kyrgyz national symbols. Komuz is produced from the single piece of wood such as the apricot or juniper and has three strings that are traditionally produced from gut and often from the fish in the modern times. The middle string is the best and the highest in pitch in the most common tunings. Virtuosos frequently play the komuz in different positions such as over the shoulder, between the knees and upside down.

The komuz can be used as a lead instrument or as an accompaniment to other instrument and is used in many musical styles including aytysh and the recitation of epics. Generally, it is played while sitting down and holding the instrument horizontally and may be strummed or plucked. The musical instrument has many tuning and names that are given to the tunings are in line with the various styles of music.

The word komuz is of the same root with the names of other instruments in the Music of Central Asia which includes, Kazakh Kobyz ‘bowed instrument’ and the tuvan and the sakha or yakut xomus ‘a jaw harp.’ The oldest instrument that is similar to the komuz was traced back the 4^th century, although the related Azerbaijani gopuz is believed to date back to 6000Bc because of the archaeological findings of clay plates showing gopuz players. In the 1960american archeologists working in the Shushdagh Mountain near the ancient city of Jygamish in southern azerbaijan opened a number of clay plates that dated back to the 6000BC showed musicians at a council who are holding an instrument that was similar to the komuz to their chest. The ancient komuz has two or three strings. The three stringed “golcha gopuz” was more popular in the ancient Anatolia and azerbaijan while the two stringed “gil gopuz” was better used in the Altai plains, in some parts of Turkmenistan and in chinese territory that was occupied by the Uyghur people. The golcha gopuz is produced from a leather covering that covered around the two-third of the surface and the third is covered with a thin wood together with the sound coard. The length of the instrument is 810mm with the body 410mm thewideness being 240mm and the height of the instrument being 20mm.

The musical instrument fell from favor during the soviet era. It was ridiculed as rudimentary and attempts were made to remake it and make it look like the Russian balalaika by adding fret to it.  The komuz was taught in colleges after the independence even when some soviet changes could not be eradicated.

Many types of komuz has been reported to have spread to several eastern European countries such as the Ukraine, Poland and hungary during the 4^th and 5^th century AD during the mass migration of the Huns into the region.