Elements
Art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/Kamancha, a bowed string musical instrument
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Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright Manage No EE00000119 Country Iran,Azerbaijan ICH Domain Performing Arts Traditional craft skills Address In Iran the element’s geographical location and range are as follows: (a) Classical Kamantcheh craftsmanship/playing Nowadays, Classical Kamancheh is crafted, mostly, in Tehran and Lorestan (a western province, with prominent Kamantcheh music). However, the classical playing method is practiced and taught all over the country. Iranian Music bands utilize Kamantcheh as a major component of the orchestra. (b) Folkloric Kamantcheh craftsmanship/playing Folkloric Kamantcheh(cf.1) is crafted in Tehran and Lorestan, and is mainly played by Azari's of Azarbayjan(North-west), Lor's of Lorestan(West), and Turkmen of Torkaman Sahra(North-east). In the Republic of Azerbaijan kamancha tradition widely exists both in the capital city– Baku, and in other regions including Nakhchivan, Ganja, Sheki, Guba, Karabakh, Lenkoran and others. Craftsmen families are mainly in villages, while individual performing amateurs and professional performers reside both in rural and urban areas. Children music schools teaching kamancha performance exist in the cities of Baku, Mingechavir, Ganja, Guba, Khachmaz, Sheki, Lenkaran and many others. For many Azerbaijani amateur and professional performers and listeners in Azerbaijan or abroad, this musical tradition gained its reputation of a specific folk art and gives strong sense of cultural belonging. In Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and some other Middle Eastern and North African countries, practitioners craft and play similar string bowed instruments. In some of these countries, communities even use the same name (Kamantcheh/kamancha) for them, with sometimes different pronunciations.
| Description | The art of crafting and playing with Kamantcheh/kamancha (“little bow”), a bowed string instrument, has exsited for more than 1,000 years. In Iran and Azerbaijan, types of this art constitute major elements of classical and folkloric Music. Classical Iranian Music refers to the urban music with “Radif” repertoir; the Folkloric Kamantcheh Music refers to the mainly rural musical traditions of Azarbayjan, Lorestan, and Torkaman Sahra. In both countries, contemporary practitioners mainly make and use four string Kamantcheh/kamancha composed of a body (chamber, neck and pegs) and a bow with horse-hair. Some Folkloric variants with two or three strings are also popular in Lorestan, Azarbayjan, or Torkaman Sahra, Iran(also, cf.D). Craftsmanship starts with choosing wood material. Craftspeople use walnut and/or mulberry for the body, and cornel for the bow. In Azerbaijan, only ball-shaped resonating chambers are crafted. Iranian communities produce the following resonating chambers/sound-boxes: 1-Pošt-baste(""closed in the back""):A hollow oval with sheep-skin; 2-Pošt-bāz(""open in the back""):A half-cone, with sheep-skin on one end. Craftspeople create a bowl and a round fingerboard, and unite them with an iron billow that ends up with a base shaft at the bottom. The chamber’s open side is covered with sturgeon, catfish, sheep or bovine bubble skin. They very often inlay the body with mother-of-pearl or other materials to express and mark different motifs and add their personal touch to the external decoration. In Iran, calligraphy, wood carvings, or inlayed jewels and shells are also practiced. The instrument rests on the base shaft and stands vertically on performer's lap or beside them; performers move the bow horizentally on the strings, and pivote Kamantcheh round the shaft to facilitate transfers on the strings. Kamantcheh/kamancha produces strong and subtle sounds, close to human voice with the sound diapason ranging from small octave ‘A’ to the third octave ‘A’. Players perform large works and etudes using various performing techniques, individually or as part folk orchestras. Generations of performers have left invaluable heritage of Kamantcheh/kamancha works, which are reproduced by young performers, adding their own playing dynamics and colouring. Transmitted from generations to generations at professional and amateur levels, within families or professional education institutions, this art brings together a large community of Kamantcheh/kamancha music lovers and listeners and continues to be a marker of cultural belonging. |
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| Social and cultural significance | The Kamantcheh/kamancha art is an essential part of musical culture in both the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Craftspeople are highly respected for their mastery and their stance within communities. While crafting the instrument represents a direct source of earning the living, craftspeople perceive this art as a strong part of the ICH that the communities have inherited from the past and strive to contribute to its development and safeguarding. They use various decorative symbols for the instrument linked to the life and history of the local communities they belong to. These craftspeople are constantly consulted by master musicians, trainers, and players regarding appropriateness of initiatives on the sound and form of the instrument to meet the needs of trainees, including children and women. Kamantcheh/kamancha performance finds its essential place a wide number of social and cultural gatherings, such as festivities, wedding ceremonies, contests, festivals and competitions of the performers. In Iran, players from Lorestan region perform an open-ended kamantcheh which has the loudest sound and is easily recognized in crowded festive events. Kamantcheh performance is vital in Kheymeshab-baazi (“Iranian puppet theatre”) and Namaayesh-e Ruhowzi or Siyaah-baazi (“Iranian traditional comic theatre”), where the music accompanies the performances. In Lorestan, Torkaman Sahra, and Azarbayjan regions, playing methods, melodies and intervals reinforce identities of the local ethnic communities. In both countries, kamancha performers accompany dance festivities and folk songs. Performers also often play Kamantcheh/kamancha in solo performances, where their virtuoso skills can be best shown. Every genre of Kamantcheh/kamancha performance used during a social gathering depends on its nature and the public: Kamantcheh/kamancha music performed at rural weddings creates lively environment for the celebration, while it leaves highly emotional impression and expresses sorrow when played at mourning events. In both countries, performers in their music convey a rich collection of themes, from mythological and gnostic to comic. In joyful and dance gatherings performers use the instrument to play “rengs” (‘joyful melodies’). Local story-tellers (e.g. Turkmen performers of Turkaman Sahra, or Lor communities of Lorestan, Iran) use kamantcheh/kamancha performance in heroic, mythological, or love stories. Many people (amateurs, listeners), keep Kamantcheh/Kamancha at home: they may play it, or just keep it as a decorative element, to show their tribute to the culture they belong to. |
| Transmission method | The knowledge and skills related to crafting of Kamantcheh/kamancha is transmitted from masters to apprentices, or fathers to sons, through informal practical training. The apprentice usually watches and imitates his or her master, and/or assists in some aspects. Crafting skills are transmitted through oral communication, observation, and participation, memorisation of skills and application of techniques and experimentation. In Iran, Ostaad Bayaaz Amir-ataayi’s workshop is especially famous. The Kakavandi Family workshop in Lorestan, is a well-known provincial workshop, where the family was granted UNESCO Certificate, and where Mrs. Leila Kakavandi is continuing with crafting Classical and Folkloric Kamantches. Among historical manuscripts on Kamantcheh craftsmahship ""Kanz al-Tuhaf, a manuscript on Music""(14th Century) is worth mentioning. Naaser Shiraazi has, recently, published a book on this topic. Today the knowledge of performing and playing Kamantcheh/kamancha is transmitted both within families and state-sponsored musical institutions, including children’s musical and art schools, musical colleges, and higher educational institutions. Transmission within families usually happens in the families of great Kamantcheh/kamancha performing masters who seek to transmit their knowledge and performing style to their children. Transmission in musical institutions is carried out by teachers who work with groups of students. The knowledge is transmitted in two ways: traditional oral, and through written notation system. The oral method is applied with teaching techniques, etudes, and repertories of Kamantcheh/kamancha music orally. Some trainees make records of sessions, to better memorize the lessons. The second method consists in applying European notation system, with special symbols added to it. The trainees are taught to position right and left hands, keep the bow in the right way, play specific music scales and imitate performing techniques and styles. Transmission starts with performing simple folk music etudes: the teacher performs a fragment, and the student imitates. Teachers instruct each student individually while other students listen. Students and trainees within families widely use guide-books, software, recordings, or listen to TV-/radio-performances of Kamantcheh/kamancha masters. Excellent performance of highly complex music pieces, improvisation techniques and personalized style of the play are considered as signs of great skill of Kamantcheh/kamancha performance. Knowledge about cultural functions of Kamantcheh/kamancha arts and importance of the music in promoting cultural identity is transmitted from generations to generations within families in all strata of society in Iran and Azerbaijan. |
| Community | In Iran, the following are woth mentioning: (a) Classical/Folkloric Kamantcheh craftspeople Many workshops in the Capital, supported by governmental organizations(e.g.ICHHTO, Iran's Museum of Music), or owned by individual masters(e.g.Hatami Family), produce Classical/Folkloric(cf.B.3 & 1) Kamantchehs. Provincial workshops, especially in Lorestan, produce Classical/Folkloric instruments, too(e.g.Mohammad Hassan Kakavand's and Maleki Family's Kamantcheh Workshops). (b)Classical/Folkloric Kamantcheh Players Classical playing method, trained at private institutes or cultural institutions, is popular in major cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Sanandaj, where Davood Ganje'i, Ali Akbar Sekarchi, Ardeshir Kamkar, and Sa'id Farajpoori, among others, train pupils academically. Folkloric methods are practiced in Lorestan, Torkaman Sahra, and Azarbayjan. Hosseyn Ali Khosravi, Akbar Manoochehri, Mohammad Mohsenpoor, Faraj Alipoor are masters of this category. In the Republic of Azerbaijan, kamancha tradition is practised by numerous craftsmen, amateurs and professional players. The art of making kamancha is mostly individual or family–involved field of craftsmanship. The community of kamancha players comprises numerous practitioners scattered around the country, including Mirnazim Asadullayev, Arif Asadullayev, Munis Sharifov, Musa Yaqubov, Agamir Hasanov, Aghajabrayil Abbasaliyev, Elnur Ahmadov, etc. Some of them form unions (e.g. Development and Teaching of Azerbaijani Music NGO). Performers’ community is also represented by kamancha teachers and students in numerous music schools and Azerbaijan National Conservatoire. Finally, amateurs of kamancha music who regularly listen to kamancha music or attend kamancha performances represent the largest part of the community. The Kamantcheh/kamancha bearer/practitioner community consists of craftspeople, amateur or professional performers, and teachers and students of Kamantcheh/kamancha(both women and men). Crafting and/or performing this art, as a hobby or profession, is a matter of personal choice. Kamantcheh/kamancha crafters hold the main role in producing, renovating, mending and decorating the instrument. |
| Type of UNESCO List | Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List | 2017 |