The çifteli (çiftelia, qifteli or qyfteli , sq, "doubled" or "double stringed") is a plucked
string instrument, with only two strings, played mainly by the
Albanians of northern and central Albania, Southern Montenegro, parts of North Macedonia and Kosovo.
The çifteli is frequently used by Albanians in weddings and at concerts, as well as by many musicians, such as
Nikollë Nikprelaj
Nikollë Nikprelaj (born 16 May 1960) is an Albanian singer from Tuzi, Montenegro. Nikolle began his professional career in his late teens. He is now the lead singer for the Albanian folk group "Besa Trieshit", which has won first place in Albani ...
. It is also used to accompany Albanian epics and ballads.
Construction
Çifteli vary in size, but are most often tuned to B
3 and E
4 (comparable to the top two strings of a
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
, which is classically tuned as "E
2 A
2 D
3 G
3 B
3 E
4"). Usually the lower string is played as a
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
, with the
melody
A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combina ...
played on the higher string. The çifteli is a fretted instrument, but unlike most, it is not fretted in a
chromatic scale
The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce the ...
(one fret per semitone), but rather in a
diatonic scale
In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole st ...
, with seven notes to the octave.
Etymology
The term ''çifteli'' is derived from
Albanian "çift" ("double, pair") and "teli" ("wire, string"), so it takes the name from the number of strings used.
History
The çifteli originates from Albanian territories. It delivers a unique sound, melody and accompanies singing.
The çifteli has an origin distinct from that of the instrument called "bağlama" (or "saz").
See also
*
Tzouras
The ''tzouras'' ( el, τζουράς), is a Greek stringed musical instrument related to the bouzouki.
Its name comes from the Turkish cura. It is made in six-string and eight-string varieties.
The six-string model has the same arrangement of ...
*
Dutar
The ''dutar'' (also ''dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central ...
, a Central Asian instrument, whose name means "two strings" in Persian
*
Baglama
*
Šargija
thumb
The ''šargija'' ( sh, šargija, шаргија; sq, sharki or sharkia), anglicized as ''shargia'', is a plucked, fretted long necked lute used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia ...
, a baglama-like Balkan instrument
*
Tanbur
The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a comp ...
References
String instruments
Albanian musical instruments
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