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The Kazakh Dombyra
Kazakh dombyra, front and side view.
Classification String instrument (Strummed string instrument)
Hornbostel–Sachs classification321.321
(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

Approx. 6000-year-old petroglyphs discovered in Kazakhstan, Almaty region, Maitobe summer camp depicting dancers with musical instrument

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 Yqylas Dükenuly Museum of Kazakh Folk Instruments in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In the picture, the instrument depicted on the rock by a former artist is apparently very similar to the shape of the dombyra. Thus, it can be said that the prototype of the current dombyra was used approx. 6,000 years ago [2] and one of the first plucked instruments.


The ancient instrument of the dombra type, found in a cave of the Jargalant Khairkhan range in the spur of the Altai Mountains, has two strings and nine keys.[3] There is a Turkic runic inscription on the neck of the instrument.

𐰘𐰯𐰀𐰛𐰝𐰈𐰲𐰈𐰼𐰀⁚𐰾𐰋𐱅𐰓𐰢𐰕

Transliteration:ž² p r¹ küü čöre: sb²t²d²mz
Translation:The soothing music makes us fall in love

Types

Construction

Genres of music

Music schools of kuy

Prominent composers of kuy

See also

Notes and references