Jadagan

Jadagan
String instrument
Classification	String instruments; Box zither;
Developed	Antiquity
Related instruments
	Yatga; koto; Guzheng; Zither; Se; Gayageum; Đàn tranh; Kanun (instrument); Kanklės; Jetigen; Ajaeng; Yazheng;

The jadagan (Khakas: чадыған, chadyghan, Russian: чатхан, çatkhan, or Siberian harp) is a wooden board zither of the Khakass Turkic people of Russian Siberia, usually with 6 or 7 strings stretched across movable bridges and tuned a fourth or fifth apart. The body is hollowed out from underneath like an upturned trough. It has a convex surface and an end bent towards the ground. The strings are plucked and the sound is very smooth. The instrument was considered to be sacrosanct and playing it was a rite bound to taboos. The instrument was mainly used at court and in monasteries, since strings symbolised the twelve levels of the palace hierarchy.

In the West

Folklorist Nancy Thym-Hochrein has researched the instrument,^[1] and musician Raphael De Cock is a contemporary player.

Related instruments

Yatga: Mongolia
koto: Japan
Guzheng: China
Zither
Se: China
Gayageum: Korea
Đàn tranh: Vietnam
Kanun (instrument)
Kanklės: Lithuania
Jetigen: Kazakhstan
Ajaeng: Korea
Yazheng: China

Notes

^ International Council for Traditional Music; Columbia University. Dept. of Music (1999). Directory of traditional music. International Council for Traditional Music. p. 31. Retrieved 22 April 2012.

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[MusicMusic1999-1] International Council for Traditional Music; Columbia University. Dept. of Music (1999). Directory of traditional music. International Council for Traditional Music. p. 31. Retrieved 22 April 2012.

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