Kobyz

Yan Gleyzer playing a kobyz

Kobyz (Kazakh: қобыз) is an ancient Kazakh string instrument played with a bow. It has two strings made of horsehair. The front-bottom part is usually covered by 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 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.

Until today, the tradition of playing the ancient kyl-kobyz is preserved. Its sound projects a unique almost magical force.

See also

• Dombra
• Komuz

References

Kurmangazy Academic orchestra of national instruments