Sorna

According to a poem of Masoud Saad (Iranian well-known classic poet) the history of this instrument refers to eleven centuries back.   In 831 Hejri Ghamari(about 620 years back) Abdolghader Maraghei, in his book Jaameol-Alhan, in its fourth chapter in the 10th part has written about Kamanche: Kamanche is an instrument that some use Indian Jouz skin and hair also for making its bowl, and some use wood for making bowl and use silk on it. They also use cow’s stomach skin for Kamancheh.   According to historian, Kamancheh was the most popular instrument in the Safavieh period; but they have not mentioned the historical changes. There is no exact time for existence of Kamancheh in Lorestan.   Kamancheh is one of the local instruments in Lorestan that is called Tal by folks. Kamancheh is the most important instrument for companying the vocals for Lor and Lak population in Lorestan. The Lorish Kamanche has three strings and has an opened back(opened bowl). It is called opened back Kamancheh. Nowadays, three strings kamancheh is no more used and four strings Kamancheh has been replaced.   The reason for using opened back Kamancheh could be that it has been used in the open areas. when the bowl of Kamancheh is opened, it sounds higher and stronger.   Compared to other four stringed Kamanches, Lorish Kamanche  has a longer and thicker handle. Kmanche belongs to the family of stringed instruments that are played witt bow. The bow plays an important role in making sound and the quality as well. Kamanche is almost held vertically, just like the performers figure of sitting. The place for using the bow on string is fixed. In performing Kmanche all left hand’s fingers are used but thumb. For tuning this instrument, the second string is tuned with four and sometimes five distances compared with the first string, and the third string is tuned the same as the first ,but one lower octave.   Some great and professional performers on this instrument are: Alireza Hoseinkhani, Pirvali Karimi, Hemmat Ali Salem, Hossein Salem, Fraj Alipour, Ali Khan, Shokrollah Sepahvand and Rahman.     Form, material and different parts of Kamanche     

1) Handle: This part is usually made of walnut’s wood.  

2) Tuners: This part also made of walnut’s wood.

3) Bowl: This part is usually made of mulberry Wood.    

4) Bar: The material for this part is metal. This, part not only joins the handle and the bowl;

but also hold the string at the lower part. Lorish people call it Chez.

5) Skin: It is made of an unborn lamb’s skin(dead born) or from the thinnest part of goat’s skin.

6) String: It is a white and steely string, that previously was made of silk.

7)Bridge: It is made of mulberry wood or white and soft woods. Lorish people call it Zir-Tall.

8) Pawl: It is mostly made of a peace of handle itself or bone.

9) Tailpiece(Simgir): I t is a part but the ticker part of  the stick. There are three holes on it that hold the strings.  

10)Taj (Tip): It is a decorating part stands on the top of  Kamacheh. This part is also called Telase.

The measurement for different parts of Kamancheh   Since there is no standard size for Lorish Kamancheh, the average size taken from three different Lorish Kmanchehs could be an estimated size for Lorish Kamancheh.   The whole length: 67 cm Distance between KHARAK TO pawl: 38/2 cm Bar’s length (the out part): 10 cm Distance from KHARAK TO SIMGIR: 5/1 cm Taj’s length: 13 cm Handle’s length: 33/2 cm Tuner’s lengths: 11/4 cm Depth of bowl: 10/7 cm Diameter for the bowl’s mouth. Diameter for the back mouth The estimated thickness of  bowl Bow’s length: 57 cm Length of the bow’s hair: 44 cm Bridge’s length: 3/9 cm