The ''igil'' ( Tuvan: игил) is a two- stringed

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

n musical instrument, played by

bowing Bowing (also called stooping) is the act of lowering the torso and head as a social gesture in direction to another person or symbol. It is most prominent in Asian cultures but it is also typical of nobility and aristocracy in many European c ...

the strings. (It is called "ikili" in Western Mongolia.) The neck and

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

-shaped

sound box A sound box or sounding box (sometimes written soundbox) is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibr ...

are usually made of a solid piece of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

. The top of the sound box may be covered with skin or a thin wooden plate. The strings, and those of the bow, are traditionally made of hair from a horse's tail (strung parallel), but may also be made of nylon. Like the

morin khuur The ''morin khuur'' ( mn, морин хуур, morin khuur), also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, the igil typically features a carved

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

's head at the top of the neck above the tuning pegs, and both instruments are known as the horsehead fiddle. The igil is held nearly upright when played, with the sound box of the instrument in the performer's lap, or braced against the top of the performer's boot. Playing technique involves touching the strings with the nails or fingertips, but without pressing them to the neck. The igil has no frets. The bow is held with an underhand grip. The igil formerly had an entire genre dedicated to it, with a repertoire of songs meant to be performed only on the igil. During the communist period in

attempts were made to "modernize" the igil. This was nothing more than an attempt to westernize the instrument making it more like the European cello. However the instruments and playing style used by most

n musicians today are largely the same as the original form of the igil. Famous players of the igil include Ak-ool Kara-sal, Andrei Chuldum-ool,

Kaigal-ool Khovalyg Kaigal-ool Kim-oolovich Khovalyg; tyv, Ховалыг Кайгал-оол Ким-оол оглу, Chovalyg Kajgal-ool Kim-ool oglu, . (born 20 August 1960) is a Tuvan throat singer and co-founder of the Tuvan music group Huun-Huur-Tu. A se ...

, Igor Koshkendei, Mongun-ool Ondar, Aldar Tamdyn, Radik Tulush and Evgenii Saryglar.

External links

Igil Demo, folktale, photos, and textIgil in contemporary Western music
Bowed string instruments Necked bowl lutes Drumhead lutes Tuvan musical instruments {{lute-stub ru:Морин хуур

See also

External links