(Persian: ‘little bow’).
Term applied to various types of fiddle found mainly in Iran, the Caucasus and Turkey. The word kamāncheh is documented from the 10th century, and the instrument probably reached Byzantium in the 11th or 12th century via Anatolia. Related instruments are found in Arab countries (kamanja, but alternative terms are more common) and in the Balkans.
The kamāncheh is the spike fiddle of Iran, Armenia (k‘emanch‘a), Azerbaijan (also kamancha) and Georgia (kemanche). This instrument has a spherical body built of tapering wooden sections or carved in one piece; the type used in popular music may have a cone-shaped body open at the back, or be made of a spherical gourd. It is often decorated with mother-of-pearl and bone. The bridge rests on a circular sound-table which is made of animal membrane or fish-skin. The rounded neck is fixed to a spike which passes through the body and acts as a support for the instrument; the total length is usually 65 to 90 cm. Formerly the kamāncheh had three silk strings, while the modern classical instrument has four metal strings attached to wooden pegs. Originally in Armenia they were tuned in 4ths; contemporary tuning is in 4ths and 5ths: a–e'–a'–e''. This tuning was standardized in Armenia by the virtuoso k‘emanch‘a player Sasha Oganezashvili (Aleksandr Oganyan) at the beginning of the 20th century. During performance the player rests the instrument vertically on the knee, and turns the instrument to meet the bow rather than guiding the bow across the strings, as in Western practice. The bow hair is tightened by inserting the fingers between the horsehair and the wood.
The classical kamāncheh in Iran dates from the 15th century or earlier (see illustration), and was mentioned in Azerbaijan by Nezāi Ganjavi (1141–1203). It is used for light music (motrebi), and is the only bowed string instrument in the classical tradition of Iran. The Turkmen regard it as their principal instrument alongside the dotār, as do the Lors in south-west Iran, and it is also found among the Kurds in the north, and in Khorāssān. The 18th-century Armenian ashugh-poet Sayat‘-Nova celebrated the instrument in a poem called K‘amancha.
Because of its soft, beautiful timbre and technical possibilities, the kamāncheh is used equally as a solo or an ensemble instrument. At the end of the 1920s, the Armenian master Vardan Buni (Buniatyan) created a k‘emanch‘a family (soprano, alto, bass and double bass) which he used in the Yerevan Oriental Symphony Orchestra.
The four-string spike fiddle of Iraq, currently called joza (Arabic ‘coconut’), is also known as al kamāna-l-baghdādiyya. It consists of a small resonator made from a hollowed-out coconut cut off at both ends. One opening is covered by the skin of a still-born lamb or a fish; the other remains open. The shape and size of the instrument, which is usually between 60 and 70 cm long, are dictated by those of the coconut; on average the diameter of the membrane is from 5 to 7 cm and that of the opposite opening is between 10 and 13 cm. The neck, between 50 and 60 cm long, is of apricot or bitter orange wood; there are four pegs (mafātīh), two on each side. A metal spike at the other end passes through the coconut. Steel strings of different gauges are attached to the spike and pass over a grooved wooden bridge (ghazāla) on the membrane. The bow is made of pliable wood – bitter orange, oak or white beech – and is slightly curved; lengths of horsehair are attached to each end and drawn tight.
The joza is traditionally tuned in perfect 4ths, usually a–d'–g'– c'', but sometimes the alternative tuning g–d'–g'–c'' is used. A tuning in 5ths is also found, akin to that of the Western violin family. The exact pitch is chosen to suit the voice it accompanies, and transposition is often effected by a capo tasto made of thread. The compass is about two octaves. It is possible to increase the instrument’s range by using Western tuning, but as a result the traditional sonority associated with the instrument is sacrificed. The instrument rests at an angle on the knee of the player, who grasps the neck in his left hand. To reach certain positions, the player must swivel the neck while playing.
The joza is used to accompany urban classical music (al maqām al ‘iraqi) as part of the local traditional ensemble, al chālghī al baghdādī. Recently the instrument has been played solo. Its technique is transmitted orally; more recently it has also been taught in music institutes where Western methods have had increasing influence.
In Turkey the kemençe has a box resonator carved in the shape of a trough with rounded ends and covered with a coniferous wooden sound-table. The short neck, with or without fingerboard, tapers to a flat pear-shaped pegbox. There are three strings of gut or metal which are tuned in 4ths and played underhand with a short horsehair bow. The kemençe is played either sitting, with the lower part of the body resting on the knee, or standing. Sometimes the player leads a dance while playing. The instrument is used solo and to accompany song as well as dance.
The kemençe of the eastern Black Sea coastal region is sometimes called the karadeniz kemençesi (‘Black Sea fiddle’); in western Turkey the kemençe is similar to the Greek lira of the eastern Aegean type, and is sometimes called the fasıl kemençesi (‘classical kemençe) or kemençe rumi (‘Greek kemençe’). It has a pear-shaped body and three metal or gut strings which are stopped from the side with the fingernails. It is rested on the player’s knee or held against the chest and played with underhand bowing. This type of kemençe is used mainly in classical fasıl (Turkish art music) and is becoming rarer as the keman (European violin) gains in popularity.
The short-necked fiddle of Armenia, the k‘aman or k‘amani, was one of the favourite instruments of the Armenian ashugh, but has now become rare. It has a narrow rectangular body with a wooden belly and fingerboard, and is played held vertically on the knee. The three (sometimes four) metal strings do not have a fixed tuning, but are often tuned in 4ths. A special characteristic of the k‘aman is the presence of sympathetic strings under the fingerboard, which are tuned either in unison with the main strings or an octave above them.
VertkovA
N. Caron and D. Safvate: Iran: les traditions musicales (Paris, 1966)
J. Spector: ‘Musical Tradition and Innovation’, Central Asia: a Century of Russian Rule, ed. E. Allworth (New York, 1967), 434–84
L. Picken: Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey (London, 1975)
S.Q. Hassan: Les instruments de musique en Irak et leur rôle dans la société traditionelle (Paris, 1980)
J. During: La musique iranienne: tradition et évolution (Paris, 1984)
J. During: La musique traditionelle de l’Azerbayjan et la science des muqams (Baden-Baden, 1988)
JEAN DURING, ROBERT AT‘AYAN, JOHANNA SPECTOR, SCHEHERAZADE QASSIM HASSAN, R. CONWAY MORRIS