The lavta is a plucked string music instrument from

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Description

The Lavta has a small body made of many ribs made using carvel bending technique. Its appearance is somewhat like a small (Turkish) oud - the strings are made from gut like an oud but it has only 7 strings in 4 courses and is tuned E AA dd gg (like the oud), or sometimes A dd aa d'd' (in intervals of 5ths like laouto - as well as 4ths); it is also sometimes tuned to Turkish Bolahenk tuning C G D A, which is the same as G D A E in concert pitch. The adjustable frets are made from tied bits of gut on the fingerboard, at the microtonal intervals of the makam system. This is more closely related to instruments like

tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...

than to the fretless oud and the 12-frets of the octave laouto. The bridge usually has mustache-shaped ends. The fingerboard is flush with the soundboard, is often unvarnished, and has a carved and inlaid rosette. Some lavta have a pegbox like the oud (angling down), others more like a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

(or like a bouzouki or a Greek laouto). The tuning pegs are shaped like those of the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, with 3 on the right side and 4 on the left side of the open tuning head.

History

Known as a lavuta ( լավութա) in Armenian, also occasionally called Politiko Laouto (Lute from

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

) in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, is an instrument that was popular in the early 20th century, particularly among the

and Armenian communities of Istanbul, but also the Turkish community, it was one of the many instruments played by noted Turk Tanburi Cemil Bey. It was gradually replaced by the oud and survived until this day. From the 1980s there has been a revival of interest in this instrument, and now It is possibile to find the lavta again both in Turkey and in Greece. Right hand technique is similar to an oud, with a long thin plectrum.

Sources

*http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/middle_east.htm {{Authority control Greek music Persian music Turkish music Armenian musical instruments Turkish musical instruments Turkish inventions Instruments of Ottoman classical music Instruments of Turkish makam music Plucked string instruments

Description

History

See also

Sources