QAMANCHA

Qamancha is a bow-string musical instrument, which is used in the Caucasus Countries and in Iran. The history of qamancha in Armenia, owing the manuscripts stored in Matenadaran and Armenian miniature painters and historians, dates back to Middle Ages.

Armenian genius ashugh Sayat Nova, who lived at the beginning of the 18th century, was also qamancha player.

Until 1912 qamancha was an instrument with 3 strings. Armenian famous qamancha player Sasha Oganezashvily (Alexander Ohanyan) added the forth string to qamancha, thus improving qamancha sound and its technical qualities.

Qamancha is made of wood from walnut, apricot and mulberry trees. Its face is covered with leather; it is tuned "la" - "mi" - "la" (quint-quart-quint). The sound range is from small octave la to third octave la.

DUDUK

Duduk is a traditional Armenian musical instrument. At first duduk was made of cane, but later in the Middle Ages Armenian masters made it from apricot tree wood.

Since 1920 Vartan Buni develops duduk. Several decades ago Master Karlen Matevosyan gave duduk a new special form and made 10 types of duduks of different sizes, tuning and tonality, which are spread not only in Armenia but abroad as well nowadays.

Duduk is an old double reed instrument of special type. Its tone range is half an octave.


ZURNA

Zurna is an Armenian traditional instrument.
Zurna is used during Armenian parties and ceremonies. Its sound is strong as it belongs to double reed sound family.
Zurna is made of wood from apricot tree. The row of sounds is of diatonic structure and the sound range is two octaves.


PKU

Pku is an old Armenian national instrument, which was originally called pzuk. Armenians in the past used it during ceremonies.
Pku is made of cane, horn of ox. It belongs to single reed sound family. The sound range is one octave.

UD

Ud is a string instrument. It originated from Iranian barbate. Later in 684 this instrument brought to Arabia by Iranian slaves, was renamed as ud and became the main instrument in Arabia. It is well spread in Eastern Countries, Middle Asia and Armenia. In ?IV century it was introduced in Spain and Sicily and became the prototype of European lutna.

Its bridge bally is round, oval with together glued small pieces of wood. There are halls of different shapes on its flat cover. Armenian ud has 6 strings, the first 5 strings are in two pairs, the tuning is quart second, the sound range is from small octave "mi" to third octave "mi".
In Armenia ud can be played in many different genres.

DHOL (DRUM)

Dhol (drum) is Armenian traditional two sided percussion instrument. With a length of 30-40 cm and a diameter of 35-50 cm. the wooden cylinder is covered with calf or sheep leather (nowadays with artificial membrane).

One of the membranes is thicker than the other one. Leathers are stretched with thin rope. It can be played by two ways: with 2 sticks of different sizes (copal and chipot) or using hands and fingers.

Dhol is usually used in the bands of zurna and duduk players or in sazandars' and traditional instruments' ensembles.
A number of other people also have instruments similar to dhol.

TAR

Tar is a string musical instrument, which is spread in the Middle East. In Armenia it has been used since 13th and 14th centuries. Tar and saz are painted in that century miniature paintings and were used mostly during ashough songs.

Tar has a figure of 8 with a length of 80-85 cm. It is a national instrument. It has echo part, long neck and head. Its echo part is made of mulberry or apricot tree wood, by digging the whole wood, which is covered by the skin of cattle heart. The covering skin is called small and large face. Tar has 11 strings (5 with pairs), which are divided into 3 groups:
1. white (steel),
2. yellow (copper),
3. red (winded).
Tuning is quart-quint. The sound range is from small octave "do" to second octave "la".

QEMANI (BAMBIR)

Qemani (bambir) is a bow-string instrument which was spread in the North regions of the historical Armenia: Trapizon, Ghavaghk, along the shores of the Black Sea. Information about qemani goes back to the 9th century. During archeological a digging of Dvin, one of the capitals of Armenia, was founded a plate with a painting of a musician with an instrument like a violin on his shoulder.

In the 20th century varieties of qemani were created: alt, tenor, bass. Qemani of a bigger size is also called bambir in Armenia. You can play sitting and holding it between your knees. You can play it simultaneously with 2 or 3 strings. Bambir has 4 strings. Its tuning is quart-quint; sound range is from small octave "la" to second octave "la".