The dutar (Also dotar or doutar) is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian word for "two stings", dotar (do "two", tar "string"), although the Herati dutar of Afghanistan has 14 strings. When played, the strings are usually plucked by the Uyghurs of Western China and strummed and plucked by the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, and Afghan people. In the instrument's 15th century beginings in the hands of shepherds, its strings were made from animal intestines. With the coming of the Silk Road, the strings were made from twisted silk. Modern instruments also have silk or nylon strings. The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Persian (فارسی = Fârsi . ... Herāt (Persian هرات) is a city in western Afghanistan, in the valley of the Hari Rud river in the province also known as Herat, and was traditionally known for wine. ... The Uyghur (Turkish: Uygur; Simplified Chinese: 维吾尔; Traditional Chinese: 維吾爾; Hanyu Pinyin: ) are a Turkic-speaking ethnic group living in northwestern China mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where they are the largest ethnic group together with Han Chinese, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Russia. ... The Tajiks are one of the principal ethnic groups of Central Asia, and are primarily found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, and the Xinjiang province of China. ... Wiktionary has a definition of: Afghan Afghan can refer to any of the following: A Pashtun (ethnicity) The Pushtu language The Afghan hound since 1964, a citizen of Afghanistan An Afghan carpet This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ... The Silk Road (Traditional Chinese: 絲綢之路; Simplified Chinese: 丝绸之路; pinyin: sÄ« chóu zhÄ« lù, Persian راه ابریشم; Râh-e Abrisham, Turkish: Ä°pekyolu, Kyrgyz: Jibek Jolu,) was an interconnected series of routes through Southern Asia traversed by caravan and ocean vessel, and connecting Changan (todays Xian), China, with Antioch, Asia... Silk weaver Silk is a natural protein fibre that can be woven into textiles. ...

The dutar has a warm, dulcet tone. Typical sizes for the pear-shaped instrument range from one to two meters.

More info

http://www.setar.info/Dotar.htm

Dotar Khorasan

The Dotar (literally meaning "two strings"), is the instrument par excellence of the bakhshi. It comes from a family of long-necked lutes and can be found throughout Central Asia, the Middle East and as far as the North East of China in Xinjiang.

Its ancestor is probably the "Tanbur of Khorasan" as depicted by Farabi (10th century) in his essay Kitab AI-Musiqi Al-Kabir. Marâqi (15th century) in his Jâme Ol Alhân also describes two types of two-string Tanbur : one which he calls the Tanbur of Shirvân (a region in the south east of the Caucasus) and another which is the Turkish Tanbur.

In Iran, the Dotar is played mainly in the north and the east of Khorasan as well as among the Turkmen of Gorgân and Gonâbâd. The instrument remains the same but its dimensions and the number of its ligatures vary slightly from region to region.

Two types of wood are used in the fabrication of the Dotar. The pear-shaped body is carved out of a single block of mulberry wood. Its neck is made of either the wood of the apricot or the walnut tree.

It has two steel strings, which in the past were made of silk or animal entrails. The Dotar is tuned in fourth or fifth intervals. The frets, made in the past from animal guts, have been replaced by nylon or steel which have the advantage of being more resilient and less expensive. They are placed in chromatic progression.

The technique for playing the Dotar consists of plucking the strings without a plectrum, following a descending and an ascending movement which involves the index and often several other fingers. The music is ornamented by the rapid repetition of notes (tremolo). Often, in order to fortify the fingers, they are soaked in henna. "

See also

• Music of Afghanistan