Ghaychak: Iran musical instrument
Ghaychak is the name of most bowed musical instruments in Asia. It is an instrument with round body and has three to four metal strings an...
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Ghaychak is the name of most bowed musical
instruments in Asia. It is an instrument with round body and has three to four
metal strings and a short fretless neck. Ghaychak is well known all through the
Central Asia. It is also well known and used by the Iranians, Afghans, Uzbeks,
Tajiks, Turkmens and Qaraqalpaks.
source of picture: commons.wikimedia.org
Ghaychak has been the only bowed musical
instruments that are found in Pamir. It is carved from the wood of an apricot
tree. Leather is stretched inside the
drum to serve as a sound table; it also has thin wood that covers the bowl. The
bowl has so many holes that make the sound more deep and rich. The instrument
is embellished with gracious ornaments. The sound box could be a metal or of a
wood and has three or four metal strings and a neck that is produced from a
willow, apricot and mulberry wood. This instrument which is tuned at intervals
of fourths has a sound box that is carved out of a single piece of wood. The upper orifice is partly covered in the middle by the
handle while the lower one is covered by a skin membrane. The bow which is tied
to a curved stick made is of
horsehair.
Ghaychak is made to be played upright
rather than in a horizontal way and that is why it is a spiked fiddle. It can
be played by placing the head on your leg, the neck on your left hand and hold
the bow with your right hand. This musical instrument can produce a sweet sound
and its sound is of a great decoration.
In the early Uyghur Oral histories,
Ghaychak appeared in a bow and arrow shape. Its first public appearance was during
the Song Dynasty (960-1279CE) in china. There, it was described as having
horsetail strings. The musical instrument seemed to be developed with the
well-known Persian Ghijek but yet was more unique. Over the time the Ghaychak
is standardized on the short neck form with typically 2bowed strings and 10
sympathetic strings as noted by the Qing Dynasty scholars. (1644-1911CE). It
was later standardized to 4 strings and its tone aligned with the western scale
by the Uyghur masters.