Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
name	Kamancheh
names	''doksar'', ''ıklık''
background	string
classification	stringed
hornbostel sachs	321.322
hornbostel sachs desc	Necked box lute
related	lyra, vielle
articles	}}

The term kemenche or kamāncha (, Armenian: քամանչա ''k’amanča'', Laz: Ç'ilili - ჭილილი, Azerbaijani: kamança, , Persian: کمانچه, Turkish: kemençe), is used to describe two types of three-stringed bowed musical instruments: # a bottle-shaped lute, closely related to the Cappadocian Kemane, found in the Black Sea region of Turkey, it is also known as the "kementche of Laz",''Pontic kemenche'' or Iklık and # a pear-shaped bowl lyre known as ''Classical kemenche'' (Turkish: Armudî kemençe), found mainly in Istanbul and the Eastern regions of Turkey that is closely related to the Greek: Byzantine lyra, (Turkish: Rum Kemençesi).

Both types of kemenche are played in the downright position, either by resting it on the knee when sitting, or held in front of the player when standing. It is always played "braccio", that is, with the tuning head uppermost. The kemenche bow is called the yay () and the ''doksar'' (), the Greek term for bow.

Etymology

Its name derives from the Persian Kamancheh, the name is Persian and means merely "small bow"., ''Ç'ilili'' by Lazes and the Pontic lyre, used by the Greeks of the Black Sea, is related to the Cappadocian Kemane, the European rebec and even the later dancing master’s kit or pochette fiddle. While many folk fiddles from Southeastern Europe to the Indian sub-continent, including the Indian sarangi and the Bulgarian gadulka, are fingered by pressure of the finger nails of the left hand against the strings, there are others whose strings are depressed onto the neck of the instrument by the player’s finger pads in the way violin strings are pressed, such as the large Cappadocian kemane (see below and the kemenche. The kemenche may be a development of an instrument which had an elongated water gourd for its body. The center of Kemençe playing activity seems to have been the district of Trabzon and the contiguous areas of the districts to the west and east of it as well as to the south, Giresun, Rize, and Gümüşhane, whose main town had been called ''Arghyrόpolis''. Also, Görele is a very important centre of kemençe. Every year, kemençe festivals held in Görele. West past Tirebolu towards Giresun(Ancient name: Kerasounta), the number of kemençe players begins to decrease and the lute as well as the violin (keman) and tambourine (tef) begin playing a more important role. Further west into the districts of the Ordu and before reaching the town of Samsun the kemençe has virtually disappeared. East of Trabzon, after Rize, the kemençe faces competition from the bagpipes (Karadeniz tulum)).

Tuning

[[Image:Lyra Measurements.jpg|thumb|460px|right|Pontian Lyra

!#	!Part Name	!Meaning	!Function
1	Tepe, To Kifal	Top, Head	Peg holder (same as the body)
2	Kulak, Otia	Fist, Ears	Pegs
3	Boyun, Goula	Neck	Place for hand (same as the body)
4	Kravat, Spaler	Bed, Slabbering bib	Fingerboard
5	Kapak	Cover
6	Ses delikleri, Rothounia	Sound holes, Nostrals	Soundholes
7	Eşek, Gaidaron	Donkey, Rider	Bridge (pine)
8	Palikar	Stalward Young Man	Tailpiece
9	Gövde, Soma	Body	Body (plum, mulberry, walnut, juniper)
10	Solucan, Stoular	Worm	Sound post (inside)
11	Teller, Hordes	Strings

]]

In classical use the three strings are usually tuned to the tonic, fourth and octave (yegâh (low re), rast (sol) and neva (high re)). Other common tunings include: tonic-octave-high fourth, low fifth-tonic-fourth and many others based on perfect fourths. Since the instrument was often played alone, the tuning was often done according to the preference of the musician and his voice's range.

The musicians usually play two or all three strings at the same time, utilizing the open string(s) as a drone. Sometimes they play the melody on two strings, giving a harmony in parallel fourths. They tend to play with many trills and embellishments and with unusual harmonies.

Related Instruments

Instruments known as Kabak, Cepane, Kemane, Igil, Rabab, the Hegit of Hatay province, the Rubab of Southeastern Turkey, the Kamancha of Azerbaijan and the Ghaychak, (Gicak, Giccek, Gijek, Gıçek, or Cicak), as well as the Aylı Kopuz and the Igil, Iklig, Kiyak, Yık, Iyık or Ik among the central Asian Turks all come from the same origins. The Kobyz is of special interest as it, like the Kemenche, has a body entirely of wood.

The Kemane is a musical instrument from the area of Ata-Pazar-Poulantzaki-Ortou-Kerasounta in the Black Sea, played by Kapadokes (the people whose origins are located in Kappadokia (a wide area in Asia Minor). Its tuning is in fifths and it is without sympathetic strings. Kabak kemane is an instrument without frets and produces chromatic sounds easily, a bowed Turkish folk instrument that shows variation according to region.

The body, or ''tekne'', is generally made from a vegetable gourd but wooden ones are also common. The neck is made from hardwood, and the fingerboard is not fretted. A thin wooden or metal rod extends from the lower end of the body, and this rests on the player's knee. This enables the player to move the instrument while playing.

The wooden bow has horse hair attached, which is drawn across the strings to produce sound. Traditionally, gut strings called ''kiriş'' were used, but modern day instruments use steel strings. The instrument may also be played by plucking the strings.

The Chuniri () is the Georgian spiked bowed lute with horsehair strings. It consists of body cut out of a whole piece of fir or pine wood with neck attached, of birch or oak, on which the head has two or three holes for tuning pegs. Its open side is covered with leather. A Rachian Chianuri has a boat-like body and two strings a major third apart , while Khevsuretian and Tushetian Chianuris have round bodies and three strings tuned to the first, second and third. The musician touches the strings with finger-pads without touching the neck, giving the Chianuri a flageolet sound. The bow touches all strings simultaneously.

The lyra (Latin: ''lira'') of the Byzantine Empire was pear-shaped bowed string instrument similar instrument to the Arab rebab, considered as the ancestor of many European bowed instruments such as the rebec and the fiddle (Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009). The Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911) was the first to describe the Byzantine lyra as a typical Byzantine instrument (Margaret J. Kartomi, 1990). Lyra is common until today, in variations, through a vast area of the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Examples are the Bulgarian Gadulka, the Calabrian Lira in Italy and the lyra of Crete, which is closely related to the bowed Byzantine lyra (9th. century-Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih,d. 911,Margaret J. Kartomi, 1990), and the Dodecanese, constitute of a terminological survival relating to the performing method of the ancient Greek instrument, lyre. The Calabrian Lira is an Italian folk fiddle with a short neck, built from one piece of solid wood, with a pear-shaped back and three bowel chords. A common instrument in southern Italy: in Calabria there are several different sizes and forms.

Vielle, vihuela, viol and fiddle. The vielle was, like the rebec, one of the most common bowed instruments in Europe during the later Middle Ages. While the instrument's origins are hard to pinpoint, the bow appears to have been used in Spain and Italy in the tenth century, based on the practice in Arab (rebab) and Byzantine countries (lira).

The kamaicha is of special interest as it connects the Indian subcontinent to western Asia. The kamaicha is a bowed lyre of the Monghniar people of west Rajasthan which borders on the Sind province, now in Pakistan. The whole instrument is one piece of wood, the spherical bowl extended into a neck and fingerboard; the resonator is covered with leather and the upper portion with wood. There are four strings which are the main ones and there are a number of subsidiary ones passing over a thin bridge.

The Lijerica- A Traditional Musical Instrument of the Croatian Adriatic. Among traditional Croatian musical instruments, an exceptional place is held by a string instrument know in the Adriatic area as the lira, lirica or, in the southern, Dubrovnik, area as the lijerica. It is a solo instrument whichmost often accompanies a dance, less frequently singing. This instrument was user by traditional performers in north-eastern Istria, on the northAdriatic islands (in particular on Losinj, Rab, Silba, and Olib), on all of the Dalmatian islands, around Makarska, in the Neretva valley, aroundDubrovnik, on the Peljesac peninsula, in the Zupa and the Konavli.

Notable kemençe virtuosi

Tuzcuoğlu Mehmet Ali (considered the best kemençe player ever.)

Kodalak Halil Agha

Picoğlu Osman

Katip Şadi

Bahattin Çamurali

Hüseyin Dilaver

References

Özhan Öztürk (2005). Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük Black Sea Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2 Cilt (2 Volumes). Heyamola Yayıncılık. İstanbul. ISBN 975-6121-00-9

Margaret J. Kartomi: On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, University of Chicago Press, 1990

Petrides, Th. "Traditional Pontic dances accompanied by the Pontic lyra

Images taken from www.pontian.info "Pontian Music" (http://www.pontian.info/MUSIC/lyra.htm)

The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments: Londra, 1984.

Asuman Onaran: Kemençe Seslerinin Armonik Analizi, İstanbul, 1959.

M. Nazmi Özalp: Türk Sanat Mûsikîsi Sazlarından Kemençe, Ankara, tarihsiz (1985’ten önce).

Laurence Picken: Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey, Londra, 1975.

Rauf Yekta: Türk Musikisi (çev: Orhan Nasuhioğlu), İstanbul, 1986.

Curt Sachs: The History of Musical Instruments, New York, 1940.

Hedwig Usbeck: “Türklerde Musıki Aletleri”, Musıki Mecmuası, no. 235 - 243, 1968 - 1969.

"lira." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 28 Feb. 2009

See also

Byzantine lyra

Cretan lyra

Gadulka

Gudok

Ghaychak

Gusle

Rebab

Kamancheh

Kobyz

Rebec

igil

Byzaanchy

Huqin

Violin family

External links

www.kemenche.com Online News from Southeast Blacksea

http://images.china.cn/images1/200707/400030.jpg

William McClure Thomson, (1860): ''The Land and the Book: Or, Biblical Illustrations Drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and Scenery, of the Holy Land'' Vol II, p. 578.

An article about Pontic kemenche from famous virtuoso Th. Petrides

All About the Pontians

Kemenche Shop

www.kemence.com

Hand Made Classical Kemenche

Kemenche video clips

About kemenche

Kabak Kemane

Listen Kabak kemençe

About Klassic kemençe (with illustrations)

http://www.hangebi.ge/chunirien.htm

http://www.hangebi.ge/afxarcaen.htm

http://www.liuteriaetnica.com/

http://www.passiondiscs.co.uk/articles/hungarian_folk_instruments2.htm#lyre

http://muzmer.sdu.edu.tr/index.php?dosya=ykemanesi&tur;=1

http://muzmer.sdu.edu.tr/index.php?dosya=ykemanesi2&tur;=1

http://muzmer.sdu.edu.tr/index.php?dosya=iklik&tur;=1

http://muzmer.sdu.edu.tr/index.php?dosya=kemane&tur;=1

Shichepshin

Shichepshin

http://www.civilization.ca/arts/opus/opus211e.html

Matthaios Tsahouridis - Kemenche Player

http://khatylaev.sakhaopenworld.org/kyrympa.html

Kemenche Components

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zZ1SbocnCdw/RyolBOzIGMI/AAAAAAAABhY/9-AWww04NNM/tkemence.jpg

Lyra (kemenche) Lessons

Matthaios Tsahouridis

Video

Classical kemençe video

Category:Violins

Category:Arabic musical instruments Category:Armenian musical instruments Category:Belarusian musical instruments Category:Bosnian musical instruments Category:Bowed lyres Category:Greek musical instruments Category:Hungarian musical instruments Category:Lyres Category:Macedonian musical instruments Category:Italian musical instruments Category:Slovenian musical instruments Category:Persian music Category:Turkish musical instruments Category:Turkish music Category:Turkmen musical instruments Category:Musical instruments of Georgia (country)

de:Kemençe el:Ποντιακή_λύρα fr:Lyra (instrument) nl:Kementsje ru:Кеменче sk:Kamandža tr:Kemençe uk:Кеменче

John Vartan (February 8, 1945 - December 15, 2004) was an Armenian American real estate developer, building contractor, banker, restaurateur and a noted educational philanthropist in the Harrisburg area in which he lived.

Career

Vartan grew up in the Armenian village of Anjar in Lebanon, also known as Haoush Mousa. After obtaining an engineering degree from the Michigan Technological University, and a master's degree from the Pennsylvania State University, he started working for Gannett Fleming, Inc. in the early 1970s, and subsequently started his own firms:

Vartan Group, Inc. (real estate development)

Vartan Construction Company (building construction)

Vartan National Bank (later sold and renamed Centric Bank in early 2007)

Parev (restaurant business)

Vartan became an expert in developing relatively inexpensive office buildings that helped spur widespread development in the greater Harrisburg area. While other developers shunned the area, Vartan actively capitalized on its low land prices. Often allied with Harrisburg mayor, Stephen R. Reed, Vartan helped change downtown Harrisburg by acquiring substandard residences and businesses, and constructing new office buildings in their stead. Although he did not achieve everything that he sought out to do, his achievements changed the public's perception of Harrisburg.

Yet as Harrisburg developed, intense competition emerged. Faced with what he considered as unfair public subsidization and favoritism to competitors, Vartan was never hesitant in filing law suits against both competitors and local governments, and he won most of the time. His life was, however, marred with serious obstacles. At one point, his ambitious development plans aroused so much community opposition that he threatened to leave Harrisburg. A "Committee to Keep John Vartan in Harrisburg" was quickly formed, and succeeded in persuading him to stay put.

Vartan's crowning achievement was perhaps his re-establishment of Harrisburg's venerable "Tuesday Club", founded by State Senator, Harvey Taylor, in the 1950s. To help subsidize the building, he constructed the first permanent headquarters for the "Tuesday Club" at his own expense. He also established a high quality restaurant, Parev, decorated with distinctive Armenian art, to provide another high quality restaurant for Harrisburg. The "Tuesday Club" soon became a mecca for Pennsylvania's political, business, media and civic leaders.

In early 1989, Vartan was diagnosed with throat cancer. Even though his cancer made it difficult for him to talk and to be understood at times, he continued with his business expansion and civic leadership. On November 22, 2004, the Management announced that the Vartan family would be taking over the operations of the "Vartan Group". Vartan died on December 15, 2004. He is survived by his wife, his four children, his three brothers, and his sister.

Educational philanthropy

Vartan's faith in the American legal process made him unusually responsive to suggestions that Harrisburg needed a new law school. Approached by Widener University for help in 1986 because of his dual role as a developer and the then-largest individual contributor to Penn State University, he surprised the university and other law school advocates by donating land, including his own spacious home, and cash of nearly $2 million dollars, and by offering financial loans.

After the Harrisburg campus of Widener University School of Law opened in 1989, Vartan donated the surrounding land to the campus, including an even more luxurious home that he had built to replace his first home. After the establishment of the law school, Widener University added nursing and social work programs to the campus.

He was named to the PoliticsPA list of politically influential Pennsylvanians.

Vartan's publicly-acclaimed generosity to Widener University led to renewed requests from Penn State. He then made donations for two Harrisburg buildings, one across from the state capitol, and the other one, a few blocks away. Vartan's educational philanthropy also included the funding of a Harrisburg public school program of after-school tutoring, the results of which were praised by both parents and educators.

References

Category:1945 births Category:People from Pennsylvania Category:Michigan Technological University alumni Category:Pennsylvania State University alumni Category:American people of Armenian descent Category:2004 deaths

Coordinates	6°7′55″N1°13′22″N
Name	Josef Özer
Background	solo_singer
Birth date	July 18, 1983
Origin	Kerburan, Tur-Abdin
Genre	Syriac, Pop
Years active	1991-Present
Website	}}

Josef Özer is a Syriac musician. He was born 18 July 1983 in Västerås, Sweden. In 2005 he made his debut in Melodifestivalen with the song ''Rain'', written by Bobby Ljunggren. Saz, drums, guitar and the piano are among the instruments that Josef masters.

Discography

''Bitti'' (album, 1998)

''Blå blå'' (CD-single, 2003)

''Rain'' (CD-single, 2005)

''Hunger'' (CD-single, 2006)

See also

Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people

Syriac music

External links

Official Website

References

Category:Swedish people of Assyrian/Syriac descent Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Syriac-language singers

sv:Josef Özer