View source for Komuz

{{distinguish|Komuz languages}}
[[File:Kopuz.jpg|thumb|175px|right|A Kyrgyz komuz]]
The '''komuz''' or '''qomuz''' ([[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]]: комуз {{IPA-ky|qoˈmuz}}), [[Azerbaijan|Azeri]] '''Qopuz''', Turkish '''Kopuz''', is an ancient [[fret]]less [[string instrument]] used in [[Central Asian music]], related to certain other [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[string instruments]] and the [[lute]].<ref>http://stringedinstrumentdatabase.aornis.com/</ref>

It is the best-known national instrument and one of the better-known [[Kyrgyzstan|Kyrgyz]] national symbols.  The komuz is generally made from a single piece of wood (usually [[apricot]] or [[juniper]]) and has three strings traditionally made out of gut, and often from fishing line in modern times. In the most common tunings the middle string is the highest in pitch. Virtuosos frequently play the komuz in a variety of different positions; over the shoulder, between the knees and upside down.  An illustration of a komuz is featured on the reverse of the [[Kyrgyzstani som|one-som note]].

==Playing style==

[[Image:Girl komuz.JPG|thumb|right|A girl playing the Komuz.]]
The komuz can be used either as accompaniment or as a lead instrument and is used in a wide variety of musical styles including [[aytysh]] (a song competition between [[akyn]]s) and the recitation of epics. It is generally played seated, held horizontally and may be strummed or plucked. One piece ("mash botoy") consists of a simple tune repeated many times, each with a new stroke, as a test of the performer’s skill and creativity. The komuz has many different tunings, and the names of the tunings correspond with various styles of music.<ref>Solos, G. "Kirghiz Instruments and Instrumental Music", ''Ethnomusicology'' 5(1):43</ref>

{|
| Kambarkan
| d-a-d
|-
| Kerbez
| e-a-e
|-
| Shingrama
| d-a-e
|-
| Ongu
| e-a-b
|-
| Ters
| d-a-g
|-
| (unknown)
| d-d'-a
|}

== History ==
[[File:KyrgyzstanP15-1Som-1999(2000) b.jpg|thumb|left|Kyrgyzstan 1-som note featuring the komuz.]]
The word ''komuz'' is cognate to the names of other instruments in the [[Music of Central Asia]], including the [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] ''[[kobyz]]'' ([[Uzbeks|Uzbek]] ''qo'biz'') (bowed instruments), and the [[Tuvans|Tuvan]] and [[Sakha language|Sakha]] or Yakut ''xomus'' (a [[jaw harp]]).

The oldest known komuz-like instrument dates from the 4th century although the related [[Azerbaijani people|Azerbaijani]] gopuz is believed to date back to 6000 BC following an archaeological discovery of clay plates depicting gopuz players. In the 1960s American [[archeologists]] working in the Shushdagh mountains near the ancient city of Jygamish in Iranian Azerbaijan, uncovered a number of rare clay plates which dated back to around [[6000 B.C.]] which depicted musicians at a council, holding a komuz-like instrument to their chests{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}. The golcha gopuz was mentioned in the epic [[Book of Dede Korkut]].<ref name="atlas.musigi-dunya.az">[http://atlas.musigi-dunya.az/atlas/en/qopuz.html ''Atlas of traditional music of Azerbaijan'']</ref>

The names of parts of the komuz are often allusions to body parts, particularly of horses.  For example, the neck is called {{IPA-ky|mojun|}} "neck", the tuning pegs are called {{IPA-ky|qulɑq|}}, or "ear"s. The Kyrgyz word кыл/qyl means "string of an instrument" or "horse's hair".

The ancient komuz generally had two or three strings. The three-stringed ''golcha gopuz'' was more popular in ancient [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Anatolia]]: the two-stringed ''gil gopuz'' or ''"iklyg"'' was used on the [[Altai Republic|Altai]] plains, in parts of [[Turkmenistan]] and in Chinese territory inhabited by the [[Uyghur people]].

The golcha gopuz is made from a [[leather]] covering which covered around two-thirds of the surface, and the other third is covered with thin wood along with the sound board. The total length of the instrument is 810&nbsp;mm, with the body  410&nbsp;mm, the width 240&nbsp;mm and the height or breadth only 20&nbsp;mm.
The {{lang-ky|ооз комуз}} ({{IPA-ky|oːz qoˈmuz|}}, literally "mouth komuz") or, alternatively, {{lang-ky|темир комуз}} ({{IPA-ky|temir qoˈmuz|}}, literally "metal komuz" or "iron komuz"), is a [[jaw harp]] and as an instrument is unrelated to the komuz.

During the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] era the instrument fell from favour. It was derided as rudimentary and attempts were made to make it more like the [[Russians|Russian]] [[balalaika]], notably by adding [[fret]]s. After independence the komuz was again taught in music colleges, though some of the Soviet changes have remained.

In the twentieth century the late [[Iran]]ian [[dutar]] player [[Haj Ghorban Soleimani]] invented a new form of the komuz which has received some popularity.<ref>[http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=161767 ''Tehran Times'' Tuesday, January 22, 2008, Retrieved January 23, 2008 ]</ref>

=== Legendary origin===
Various [[mythology|myth]]s exist about the komuz. One tells that the [[hunter]] Kambarkan was wandering in the forest when he heard a beautiful sound. He looked for the source and found the intestine of a [[squirrel]] tied between two tree branches, which he took and fashioned into a musical instrument. It is also said that the [[nightingale]] learned to sing by copying the komuz. The name is believed to have been derived from the ancient Turkic words "gop" meaning height and "uz" meaning voice, or magic music sound.

==Related instruments==
Different variations of the komuz spread to several eastern European countries such as the [[Ukraine]], [[Poland]] and [[Hungary]] during the 4th-5th century A.D, during the mass [[human migration|migration]] of the [[Huns]] into the region. There they became known with similar variations of the name.  (See : [[kobza]])

In [[Dagestan]] (a Russian republic between [[Chechnya]] and the [[Caspian Sea]], just east of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] in the [[Caucasus]]) a special instrument mentioned in both the Vertkov's Atlas SSSR, and in Buchner's book, is called [[agach komus]], or temur by the [[Caucasian Avars|Avar]] people. It seems a kind of slender guitar with 3 strings, with a body (carved from one block of wood) shaped like a spade and fitted with a trident-like spike at the lower end.

The [[Qanbūs]] of the Arabian and Malay peninsulae is considered by Sachs to derive its name from the komuz.<ref>[http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/21757/10891257253hilarian.pdf/hilarian.pdf The gambus (lutes) of the Malay world: its origins and significance in zapin Music], Larry Hilarian, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 06 Jul 2004</ref> The five-string kopuz is also thought to have transformed into the six-string instrument known as the sestar or seshane by 13th-century mystic [[Rumi]]. The word "sestar" is mentioned in the poems of the 14th-century poet [[Yunus Emre]]. [[Evliya Çelebi]] describes the kopuz as a smaller version of the seshane.

==Media==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfIdzzBODBo Video of a komuz master]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6qSGn307M Video of a komuz player]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDCSGfvrEqo A home performance of a traditional Kyrgyz song, played on the komuz]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_vr2hNpMo Salamat Sadyqova performing Alymqan on the komuz]

==Sources==
<references/>

==References==
*http://www.turkishmusicportal.org/instrument.php?id=7&cat=1
*http://www.kyrgyzmusic.com/

==External links==
* [http://www.thespektator.co.uk The Spektator – 'Komuz and Creation' - Article in issue fifteen of the Spektator]

==See also==
*[[Music of Central Asia]]
*[[Bağlama]]
*[[Baglama|Saz]]
*[[Lute]]
*[[Dutar]]
*[[Dombra]]
*[[Pandura]]
*[[Gadulka]]
*[[Gusle]]
*[[Rebab]]
*[[Kamancheh]]
*[[Cretan lira]]
*[[Kobyz]]
*[[Temir komuz]]
*[[Temir komuz|Agiz komuzu]]
*[[Temir komuz|Gubuz]]

{{Turkish musical instruments}}
{{Azerbaijani musical instruments}}

[[Category:Kyrgyz musical instruments]]
[[Category:Necked lutes]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani musical instruments]]
[[Category:Uzbekistani musical instruments]]
[[Category:Dagestanian musical instruments]]
[[Category:Khakas musical instruments]]
[[Category:Azerbaijani musical instruments]]
[[Category:Hungarian musical instruments]]
[[Category:Turkmen musical instruments]]
[[Category:Turkish words and phrases]]