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Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the
Kemence, from Folk Tours Middle Eastern Dance & Music
{{Authority control Lyres Bowed instruments Laz musical instruments
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 commun ...
, 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 ''O ...
, 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 wi ...
, 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 Turkmeni ...
, Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
, 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, Rom ...
. These instruments are folk instrument
A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music.
Overview
The ...
s, 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, a ...
, 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 thekamancheh
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, a ...
(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, 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 (excep ...
s. Though, Circassians of Caucasus also have the same instrument in their own language named as Shikepshine which basically means horse tail violin.
See also
*Byzantine lyra
The Byzantine lyra or lira ( gr, λύρα) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by ...
* Pochette (musical instrument)
References
External links
Kemence, from Folk Tours Middle Eastern Dance & Music
{{Authority control Lyres Bowed instruments Laz musical instruments