The chang (; ; ; ''al-ǧank'' or صَنْج ''ṣanǧ''; Georgian: ჩანგი ''changi'') is a Persian musical instrument, a vertical angular harp. It was very popular and used widely during the times of ancient

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, especially during the Sasanian Dynasty where it was often played in the shahs' court. It was also played until the 19th century in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

but has since disappeared from Turkish folk music.

History

The chang first appears in paintings and wall art in Persia in about 4000 BCE. In these paintings and mosaics, the chang went from the original arched harp to an angular harp in the early 1900s BCE, with vertical or horizontal sound boxes. From the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

(~300 BCE) and through beginning of

Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

(~1 CE), the chang changed shape to be less of a handheld instrument and more of a large, standing harp, and subsequently gained in popularity.

Sassanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

courts were enamored with the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

chang, which increased its popularity, and by the end of the Sasanian period the chang had been redesigned to be as light as possible. By becoming more slender, the chang lost much of its rigidity and structural soundness, but gained a portability that made it the primary harp for what would soon become Iran. The chang that is used today resembles the last documented transformation.

Structure

The chang is essentially an Iranian harp, but unlike an eastern harp the strings are made of sheep gut and twisted goat hair and sometimes even nylon. This characteristic stringing gives the chang a unique sound; it does not have the resonance of metal strings in other folk-harps. In

medieval Azerbaijan In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

, the chang had 18–24 strings but this varies based on how far the chang dates back. In the design of some ancient changs, sheepskin or goatskin was used to amplify the sound making it sound closer to an eastern harp, but its unique sound is desirable and typically preserved. The chang is played by plucking the strings with your right hand finger nails or finger picks and using your left hand to apply pressure on the strings to execute glissandos, vibratos, and other embellishments, and occasionally, plucking techniques. In modern days the chang is made out of special string or the tail of a horse. The past body of the chang typically included goat- or sheep-skin. The skins used on the chang also give it a different sound.

Musicians

The chang was predominantly played by women during

ancient times Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

. However, the chang is being revived and is now starting to make its way back into the field of contemporary Persian music. There are depictions from as far back as 4000 BCE that show the chang being played, along with other instruments, and a singer. Since the playing style of the chang does not share any similarities with other Persian instruments, it is a difficult instrument to pick up, play, and master. As a result, the number of chang players is small. There are a few modern players of the chang including Mrs. Parvin Ruhi and her two daughters, Zaynab Baqeri Nejad and Masome Baqeri Nejad. Today the chang is played in small ensembles, such as religious ceremonies and parties.

Other usages in music

The chang (or Chinese chang) is also a name given to the

fangxiang The ''fangxiang'' (also ''fang xiang'', ''fang hsiang''; zh, s=, t=, p=fāngxiǎng; also known in the West as the Chinese chang) is an organized-suspended (bianxuan) Chinese metallophone that has been used for over 1,000 years. It was first u ...

, a Chinese

metallophone A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), such as tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, usual ...

played in China since ancient times. The Uzbek chang is a

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

, similar to the Chinese Yangqin. The Burmese harp, called '' saung'' (စောင်း, transliterated 'caung:' in MLCTS), is

etymologically Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

derived from the Persian word "chang," which is the Persian arched harp.

References

External links

A Persian harp
played by Tomoko Sugawara.
Talk and demonstration
of harp-playing by Rabe'eh Zand.

(Simorgh orchestra website.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chang (Instrument) Persian musical instruments Angular harps Folk instruments of Sindh Music of Georgia (country)