Kemenche

Kemenche is a persian word which derived from the word keman(=bow, curve)" and suffix -che (gives "small" meaning) means "little instrument played by bow".
In central Asia there are many instruments that can be the origin of kemenche. Studies show that even there is some different names like KIYAK and IKLIG the name of instrument paleyed by a bow is generally KEMENECHE among the Mongol and Turk tribes in central and far asia.
In Turkey, there are different instruments called as kemenche. From these varieties, the Blacksea Kemenche and the Türkmen Kemenche (Southeastern Kemenche) are used in folk music. The Blacksea Kemenche has a narrower body and its shape is more rectangular (bottle sahaped). The instrument used in Turkish Classical Music is called as Classical Kemenche which has a wider and rounder body (pear shaped). All kemenches are played with a bow. Unlike a classical kemenche player, however, the Blacksea kemenche player plays while standing. On some parts on asia and europe you can see some instruments very similar to Turkish classical kemenches with different names like LYRA in Greece, GADULGA in Bulgaria, REBAB in some Arabic countries. On the other hand also you can find similar instrumets like Turkmen kemenche in Iran, Azerbaijan and Armenia. But It is interesting that either in asia or in the other parts of the world you can not find an instrument which has similar shape with Blacksea kemenche. So we can say that It only belongs to Blacksea region, Blacksea people, and everybody originally comes from this part of Anatolia.


The center of lyra playing activity seems to have been the district of Trabzon and the contiguos areas of the districts to the west and east of it as well as to the south, Giresun , Rize, and Gümüşhane whose main town was Arghyrόpolis. As one moves west past Tirebolu towards Kerasounta/Giresun, the number of lyra players begins to decrease and the lute as well as the violin (keman) and tambourine (tef) begin playing a more important rple in Pontic music. Further west into the districts of the Kotyora/Ordu and before reaching the town of Samsun the lyra has virtually diasappeared so that Bafra, whose inhabitants were Turkish speaking Pontics, one finds the violin (kemane), the clarinet(gırnata), lute (Ud), and bass drum (davul) as the main musical instruments, Sinope/Sinop and its environs is not usually considered in recent tradition.

Moving east of Trabzon, the picture is much the same. After Rize, the kemenche being facing competition from the bagpipes (Pontic dankiyo/tulum))






Kemenche originally had two strings and came in two shapes...In the Black Sea region, it was long and narrow and basically used for folk music. In Istanbul and Western Anatolia, its body was oval, almost pearshpaed and used for ferforming classical Turkish music. It is made from rose, butterly, cypress or ebony woods.

In addition to Turkey, the kemenche is kown and played in Balkan countriees such as Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia-Montenegro.

Pontic Lyras are bottle shaped upright fiddles native to the southern shore of the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey and Georgia and are also called Kara Deniz Kemenche.

The kemenche is a recent newcomer (late 19th century) to the world of the learned tradition of Ottoman music. It emerged from the world of Greek Thracian folk music and was introduced to the classical tradition by Vassilaki and his student Cemil Bey. Various avatars of the kemenche still sound out as the main instrument of folk music, from Crete in the south to Thrace in the north. In Turkey since Cemil Bey, it has become one of the dominant instruments of the learned tradition of Ottoman music and has even penetrated the sacrosanct enclosures of dervish music. Ihsan Özgen's virtuosity on the kemenche acquired a thorough polish through long years of working with two of the living legends of Ottoman music: Nejdet Yashar on the tanbur and Niyazi Sayin on the Ney. He reached the peak of his career while leading 'Bosphorus' through its' major and historical concert tours of Greece. Considered to day as the modern 'Cemil Bey' he has taught many of the younger generations of 'kemenche' players through his teaching position at the state conservatory for Turkish music at the Istanbul Technical University.

Qyamancha Kemenche (Kemanche, Kamancha) is a spiked fiddle. It is played on the knee with a horse-hair bow which is tightened with the hand while playing. The body of this Kemenche is in the shape of a parabola and it has 4 strings. Armenians from the Black Sea (Sev Dzov) Trebizond region of Historical Pontus played another type of Kemenche .
The shape of this Kemenche is similiar to the violin. It has only 3 strings and no fret's


HEAD : This is the top of the kemenche above handle. There are three tuning peg on it. When you look from behind it you see a large hole to attach the strings. While playing the head supports the hand which hold from the handle. In romeika (pontiaka) it is called as tepe (tepe is turkish) or kifal .

PEGS : Generally a kemenche has three pegs. They used for tunning the strings. The end rod of pegs are splitted to attach the strings easily. It is otia in Romeika.
HANDLE : This is the part of kemenche which is holded by hand. It gets more thinner from bottom to top to fit in hand better. Thus you can play by standing. It is called as goula in Romeika.
SOUNDBOARD : It is the part that covers the carved side of body. On turkish kemenche it is a bit curved but in Greece and other countries people originally comes from Blacksea Region (Pontos) use flat soundboards. In Romeika, it is called as kapak which is a turkish word.
BODY : This is main part of the instrument. Inside of body is carved and bocomes narrower from bottom to top. Aşağıdan yukarıya doğru hafif daralır. It's Romeika name is Soma
FINGERBOARD : It begins from the bottom of head edn eds in the middle of body and gets wider. Becouse of its form in Turkish sometimes it is called as KRAVAT (necktie). It is spaler in Romeika.
PEGS : Generally a kemenche has three pegs. They used for tunning the strings. The end rod of pegs are splitted to attach the strings easily. It is otia in Romeika.
SOUNDBOARD : It is the part that covers the carved side of body. On turkish kemenche it is a bit curved but in Greece and other countries people originally comes from Blacksea Region (Pontos) use flat soundboards. In Romeika, it is called as kapak which is a turkish word.
FINGERBOARD : It begins from the bottom of head edn eds in the middle of body and gets wider. Becouse of its form in Turkish sometimes it is called as KRAVAT (necktie). It is spaler in Romeika.
TOP STRINGHOLDER : At the bottom of head it is supports the string not to touch on soundboard. In turkish some times it is called as YASTIK (pillow).
SOUNDHOLES : This holes which is called as Rothounia lets the sound get louder. In Turkey generally there are two vertical holes on soundboard but RUM kemenche has additional little holes on soundboard and on two side of body and they called as.
MIDDLE STINGHOLDER : In Turkish sometimes it's called as KÖPRÜ (bridge). It is Gaidaron in Romeika. It keeps the strings at a certain distance from soundboard.
BOTTOM STRINGHOLDER : It is the part that fixes the strings at the bottom of body. Like middle stringholder is movable. It is Palikar in Romeika.
SOUNDPOST : Under the soundboard between two soundholes it supports the sounndboard to obtain better vibration ond sound. It is Stoular in Romeika.
BOW : Bow which is calles as Doksar