Silk Road Sounds The kamancheh
A spike protrudes from the base of the kamancheh’s small round wooden body opposite a long cone-shaped neck. The sound table is made of animal skin, and to play, the musician rests the kamancheh on a knee or the ground and twists it on its spike to meet the bow. The first known written reference to the kamancheh dates from the 12th century C.E. For centuries this Iranian instrument has been revered in a wide range of musical settings – courtly and folk, religious and secular.
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With its elegant, warm tone, the kamancheh calls to mind the timbre of the human voice. Because of this, the diminutive spike fiddle usually takes center state alone or in small ensembles.
