Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to comm ...

, particularly in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. and regions adjacent to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

. These instruments are folk instruments, generally having three strings and played held upright with their tail on the knee of the musician. The name ''Kemenche'' derives from the Persian

Kamancheh The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) ( fa, کمانچه, az, kamança, hy, Քամանչա, ku, کەمانچە ,kemançe) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, an ...

, meaning merely a "small bow".

Variations

The Kemençe of the Black Sea ( tr, Karadeniz kemençesi, italic=y), also known as ''Pontic kemenche'' or ''Pontic lyra'' ( el, Ποντιακή λύρα), is a box-shaped lute ( ), while the classical kemençe ( tr, Klasik kemençe, italic=y or ''Armudî kemençe'', el, Πολίτικη Λύρα) is a bowl-shaped lute ( ). Other bowed instruments have names sharing the same Persian etymology include the

kamancheh The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) ( fa, کمانچه, az, kamança, hy, Քամանչա, ku, کەمانچە ,kemançe) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, an ...

(or ''Kabak kemane'' in Turkish), a

spike lute Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

( ), and the

Cappadocian kemane Cappadocian Greeks also known as Greek Cappadocians ( el, Έλληνες-Καππαδόκες, Ελληνοκαππαδόκες, Καππαδόκες; tr, Kapadokyalı Rûm, Rumlar) or simply Cappadocians are an ethnic Greek people, Greek commu ...

, an instrument closely related to the kemenche of the Black Sea with added

sympathetic string Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are typically not played directly by the performer (exc ...

s. Though, Circassians of Caucasus also have the same instrument in their own language named as Shikepshine which basically means horse tail violin.

References

External links

Kemence, from Folk Tours Middle Eastern Dance & Music
{{Authority control Lyres Bowed instruments Laz musical instruments

Variations

See also

References

External links