The Kobyz ( kk, қобыз, ''Qobyz''; ba, ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кубыз) or ''kylkobyz'' ( kk, қылқобыз, ''qylqobyz''; ba, ҡыл ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кылкубыз) is an ancient

Turkic Turkic may refer to: * anything related to the country of Turkey * Turkic languages, a language family of at least thirty-five documented languages ** Turkic alphabets (disambiguation) ** Turkish language, the most widely spoken Turkic language * ...

bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...

, spread among

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (also spelled Qazaqs; Kazakh: , , , , , ; the English name is transliterated from Russian; russian: казахи) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group native to northern parts of Central Asia, chiefly Kazakhstan, but also part ...

Karakalpaks The Karakalpaks or Qaraqalpaqs (; kaa, Qaraqalpaqlar, Қарақалпақлар, قاراقلپقلر), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Karakalpakstan in Northwestern Uzbekistan. During the 18th century, they settled in the lower reache ...

Bashkirs , native_name_lang = bak , flag = File:Bashkirs of Baymak rayon.jpg , flag_caption = Bashkirs of Baymak in traditional dress , image = , caption = , population = approx. 2 million , popplace ...

, and

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

. The

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people * Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

variant is called the ). The qobyz has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of ...

leather. Traditionally kobyzes were sacred instruments, owned by

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

s and bakses (traditional spiritual medics). According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sicknesses and death.

In Kazakh music

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 The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. Such a modernized kobyz can be used to play both Kazakh music and the most complicated works of violin literature. One of the few western musicians to use the kobyz is

Trefor Goronwy Trefor Goronwy is a vocalist, bass guitarist, guitarist, and percussionist. He joined This Heat for their final European tour in 1982, and continued to work with drummer Charles Hayward and soundman Stephen Rickard in the group Camberwell Now. ...

. While many Kazakh ''kobyz'' players and scholars theorize that bards accompanied themselves on the ''kobyz'' during recitation of epics, today a mainstay of the Kazakh ''kobyz'' repertoire is küi, which are short programatic pieces composed as instrumental narration or expression of emotion, often employing the purposeful imitation of sounds such as bird calls or horse hooves.

In Karakalpak music

The ''kobyz'' is still played today by ''jyrau'' (one of the two types of Karakalpak bard), as accompaniment during recitation of epics and dastan. The ''kobyz'' punctuates spoken narrative, plays the melodic line in unison with the voice during the sung parts, supports sustained notes in the voice by repeatedly bowing the same note, and plays the melody when the ''jyrau'' is not singing. The ''jyrau'' sings with a guttural, raspy timbre, in a style common to many nomadic groups of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

, and Southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

. Although this timbre was in the past associated with shamanic practice, living memory of this has died out, and modern ''jyrau'' instead interpret the timbre as a vocal imitation of the ''kobyz'' itself.

In Tatar music

The art of kobyz flourished before the fall of the

Kazan khanate The Khanate of Kazan ( tt, Казан ханлыгы, Kazan xanlıgı; russian: Казанское ханство, Kazanskoye khanstvo) was a medieval Tatar Turkic state that occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552 ...

in 1552 among

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

and some other ethnic groups of

Volga region The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European Russ ...

. However, this art was preserved until the end of the 18th century among the Tatar dervishes. Today the instrument is used in various Tatar ethnic ensembles like Bermenchek etc. and it is studied in depth by a candidate of art history at the

Kazan Conservatory The N.G. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory (Russian: Казанская государственная консерватория имени Н.Г. Жиганова) is a higher musical education institution in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The conse ...

In Kyrgyz music

The kyl kyyak (

: кыл кыяк ) (sometimes spelt kyl kiak and sometimes without the 'kyl') is a stringed musical instrument used in

music. The instrument is carved from a single piece of wood (typically

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus '' Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are al ...

) and typically measures 60–70 cm. It has 2 strings, one to provide melody and the other resonance. The kyl kyyak is played vertically with a bow and can be played on

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...

back. The strings and bow are normally made from horse hair and many instruments feature a carved horse's head. This all reflects the importance of the horse in Kyrgyz

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

culture.

References

External links