User:GaiJin/Kazakh dombyra
 Kazakh dombyra, front and side view. | |
| Classification | String instrument (Strummed string instrument) |
|---|---|
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 321.321 (Composite chordophone) |
| Related instruments | |
The Kazakh dombyra (Kazakh: домбыра) is a fretted national musical instrument of Kazakhs that typically has two strings. The instrument has a sophisticated tradition with five music schools and thousands of compositions. The dombyra was first used in the epic tradition to accompany songs and later contributed to the formation of the genre of instrumental music, kuy (Kazakh: күй).
History[edit]
In 1986, in the Almaty Region of Kazakhstan, in the Maitobe summer camp (Kazakh: Майтөбе жайлауы), professor Sabetqazy Aqataev (Kazakh: Сәбетқазы Ақатаев) with the help of ethnographer Jağda Babylyqūly discovered a petroglyph depicting a musical instrument and four dancing people in various poses.[1] According to the archaeologist Kemel Aqyshev, this figure comes from the Neolithic period (around 4000 BC). The rock fragment depicting this drawing is currently located in the The Ykhlas Museum of Folk Musical Instruments in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The instrument depicted on the petroglyph has a lot of resemblence to the shape of the dombyra. Thus, one can conclude that the prototype of the current dombyra was used approximately 6,000 years ago [2], rendering dombyra as one of the first plucked instruments.