Lavta: Armenia musical instrument

The lavta also known as “լավտա” in the local Armenian language and occasionally called “politiko laouto” is a plucked string musical instrument from the Istanbul that is said to have a small body that is made up of ribs using carvel bending technique and looks like a small ud. It has 7 strings in 4 courses and it is tunable. The frets which are adjustable are tied piece of gut on the fingerboard at a musical interval less than semitone of the makam system and it is quite different from the fretless ud and that makes the fret board more familiar to the instrument like the tanbur. The bridge is made to look more like the hair on the upper lip ends. The fingerboard is directly next to the soundboard which is usually straightforward and has a carved and decorated rosette. Most lavtas have a peg box just like the ud, other are like the guitar or laouto, also the tuning pegs are shaped that of the violin having three on the right side and 4 on the left side of the tuning open head.

source of picture: dalymusic.com

In the 20^th century, this musical instrument was so popular in Greek and Armenian communities of Istanbul and also the Turkish community. It was reported to be one of the instruments played by the Turk Tanburi Cemil Bev and was preceded by the ud and replaced until the recent days. From the early part of 1980s there has been a resounding interest on this musical instrument and today, you can find lavta in Greece and Armenia again.