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Instrument

Kemençe

In classical Turkish music, a pear-shaped, small-bodied, three-string instrument held upright on the knee and played with a bow; the strings are touched from the side with the fingernails. The Black Sea kemençe is a separate folk instrument.

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Related: Classical kemençe instrumentBlack Sea kemençe instrumentRebab

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Sources

The definitions were written in our own words, drawing on sources such as the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Yılmaz Öztuna's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Turkish Music and Wikipedia; pitch and interval values follow the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system. This content has not yet been reviewed by an expert; if you spot a mistake, please write to us.

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