The Kobyz ( kk, қобыз, ''Qobyz''; ba, ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кубыз) or ''kylkobyz'' ( kk, қылқобыз, ''qylqobyz''; ba, ҡыл ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кылкубыз) is an ancient

Turkic Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

bowed string instrument, spread among

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also parts o ...

, Karakalpaks, Bashkirs, and Tatars. The

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

variant is called the ). The qobyz has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather. Traditionally kobyzes were sacred instruments, owned by shamans and bakses (traditional spiritual medics). According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sicknesses and death.

In Kazakh music

In the 1930s, when the first folk instrument orchestras were established in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, a new kind of kobyz came into existence. It now had four metallic strings and thus became closer to a violin. Such a modernized kobyz can be used to play both Kazakh music and the most complicated works of violin literature. One of the few western musicians to use the kobyz is Trefor Goronwy. While many Kazakh ''kobyz'' players and scholars theorize that bards accompanied themselves on the ''kobyz'' during recitation of epics, today a mainstay of the Kazakh ''kobyz'' repertoire is küi, which are short programatic pieces composed as instrumental narration or expression of emotion, often employing the purposeful imitation of sounds such as bird calls or horse hooves.

In Karakalpak music

The ''kobyz'' is still played today by ''jyrau'' (one of the two types of Karakalpak bard), as accompaniment during recitation of epics and dastan. The ''kobyz'' punctuates spoken narrative, plays the melodic line in unison with the voice during the sung parts, supports sustained notes in the voice by repeatedly bowing the same note, and plays the melody when the ''jyrau'' is not singing. The ''jyrau'' sings with a guttural, raspy timbre, in a style common to many nomadic groups of Central Asia, Mongolia, and Southern Siberia. Although this timbre was in the past associated with shamanic practice, living memory of this has died out, and modern ''jyrau'' instead interpret the timbre as a vocal imitation of the ''kobyz'' itself.

In Tatar music

The art of kobyz flourished before the fall of the Kazan khanate in

1552 __NOTOC__ Year 1552 ( MDLII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * January 15 – Henry II of France and Maurice, Elector of Saxony, sign the Trea ...

among Tatars and some other ethnic groups of Volga region. However, this art was preserved until the end of the 18th century among the Tatar dervishes. Today the instrument is used in various Tatar ethnic ensembles like Bermenchek etc. and it is studied in depth by a candidate of art history at the Kazan Conservatory .

In Kyrgyz music

The kyl kyyak (

: кыл кыяк ) (sometimes spelt kyl kiak and sometimes without the 'kyl') is a stringed musical instrument used in

music. The instrument is carved from a single piece of wood (typically

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

) and typically measures 60–70 cm. It has 2 strings, one to provide melody and the other resonance. The kyl kyyak is played vertically with a bow and can be played on horseback. The strings and bow are normally made from horse hair and many instruments feature a carved horse's head. This all reflects the importance of the horse in Kyrgyz rural culture.

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