kemenche
Kemenche (Turkish: kemençe; Greek: κεμεντζές) or kamancha (Persian: کمانچه; Armenian: Քամանչա) is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. And regions adjacent to the Black Sea. These instruments are folk instruments, generally having three strings and played held upright with their tail on the knee of the musician.
Also recorded as kemençe
kemenche

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- Field
- necked lute · bowed string instrument
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Kemenche (Turkish: kemençe; Greek: κεμεντζές) or kamancha (Persian: کمانچه; Armenian: Քամանչա) is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. And regions adjacent to the Black Sea. These instruments are folk instruments, generally having three strings and played held upright with their tail on the knee of the musician.
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
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wikidata · Q10969818 · wikipedia · Kemenche
In this article
Variations
The name Kemenche derives from the Persian Kamancheh, meaning a "small bow".
The Kemençe of the Black Sea (Turkish: Karadeniz kemençesi), also known as Pontic kemenche or Pontic lyra (Greek: Ποντιακή λύρα), is a box-shaped lute (321.322 in the Hornbostel-Sachs system), while the classical kemençe (Turkish: Klasik kemençe or Armudî kemençe, Greek: Πολίτικη Λύρα, bowl-shaped lute (321.321) is a different instrument and closely related to the Byzantine lyra. Other bowed instruments have names sharing the same Persian etymology include the kamancheh (or Kabak kemane in Turkish), a spike lute (321.31), and the Cappadocian kemane, an instrument closely related to the kemenche of the Black Sea with added sympathetic strings. Circassians have a similar instrument named the Shikepshine which means horse tail violin.
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Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.McCollum, Jonathan. "Kamancha." New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Second Edition. Oxford University Press. 2014. 9780199743391.
- 2.Hugo Pinksterboer, Tipbook: Cello (2002), p. 106.
- 3.Middle East Focus. TheStrad.com. 50–52. July 2007.
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Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- keluriTerminology
- kemanakTerminology
- kemaneTerminology
- kemençe of the Black SeaTerminology
- kempulTerminology
- kèn bầuTerminology
- Ken CarsonTerminology
- kèn đám maTerminology
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