The rebab , Arabic الرباب or رباب (also rebap, rabab, rebeb, rababah, al-rababa) is a string instrument which originated in Afghanistan ^{[citation needed]}, no later than the 8th century, and was spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and the Far East. The bowed variety often has a spike at the bottom to rest on the ground, and is thus called a spike fiddle in certain areas. The rubab (also spelled rubāb) is a plucked string instrument from Afghanistan and Pakistan. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... A trade route is a commonly used path of travel for those (e. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The far east as a cultural block includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. ...

Rebab
Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey

The rebab is considered part of the lute family (oud in Arabic). Plucked versions like the kabuli rebab (sometimes referred to as the robab or rubab) are plucked like the lute, but other versions are played with a bow. The closest to it is Gusle, the instrument still widely used in the Balkans. It is almost certainly the direct ancestor of the European violin, via the medieval rebec. It is used in a wide variety of musical ensembles and genres, corresponding with its wide distribution, and is built and played somewhat differently in different areas. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 532 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (777 × 875 pixel, file size: 207 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 532 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (777 × 875 pixel, file size: 207 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Konya (Ottoman Turkish: ; also Koniah, Konieh, Konia, and Qunia; historically also known as Iconium (Latin), Greek: Ikónion) is a city in Turkey, on the central plateau of Anatolia. ... A medieval era lute. ... For other uses, see Oud (disambiguation). ... “Arabic” redirects here. ... The robab (also spelled rubāb) is a plucked string instrument from Iran. ... A cello bow In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... Serbian Gusle The gusle or gusla (Albanian: Lahuta, Bulgarian: Гусла, Croatian: Gusle, Serbian: Гусле, Gusle) is a single-stringed instrument used in the Balkans and on the Dinarides area. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... The rebec in Virgin among Virgins (1509), by Gerard David. ...

Construction

Plucked rebabs, common in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwest India are oddly-shaped instruments, with a form that has been described by some as "boat like." The body of the instrument is heavy, carved wood, narrow in the middle, suggesting that it might have been played like a violin at one time, like its bowed cousins. The body is covered with stretched skin, usually stoutly glued to the body. The neck is very thick, and the fretboard is often intricately inlaid. The pegbox is often topped with intricate carving.

The kabuli rebab has three or four strings (usually with one string doubled) which are bridged by a carved piece held onto the skin face by pressure. These are attached to tuning pegs (not machine heads) set in the pegbox, and terminate at a single stout peg at the bottom of the instrument. Most plucked rebabs have a number of sympathetic strings stretched underneath the main strings. The sympathetic strings are tuned by pegs set along the base of the neck Sympathetic strings are strings on musical instruments which begin resonating, not due to any external influence such as picking or bowing, but due to another note (or frequency). ...

There are various different types of bowed rozh/rebabs that have different functions. In Southeast Asia, the rozh/rebab is a large instrument with a range similar to the viola da gamba, whereas versions of the instrument further west tend to be smaller and higher-pitched. The rozh/rebab usually consists of a small, usually rounded body, the front of which is covered in a membrane such as parchment or sheepskin. The body varies from being ornately carved, as in Java, to simpler models such as the 2-string Egyptian "fiddle of the Nile" may have a body made of half a coconut shell. The more sophisticated versions have a wooden soundbox and the front may be half-covered with beaten copper, and half with goatskin. Various Viola da gamba The viol or viola da gamba family of musical instruments is related to the vihuela, rebec, etc. ... German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ... Sheepskin: slang term for a diploma. ... Binomial name L. For other uses, see Coconut (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ...

There is a long thin neck with a pegbox at the end and there are one, two or three strings. There is no fingerboard. The instrument is held upright, either resting on the lap or on the floor. There is often a spike at the bottom to rest on the ground, similar to the ordinary holding of a cello but while seated on the ground. The bow is usually more curved than that of the violin. The neck is the part of certain string instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings at different pitches. ... A pegbox is the part of certain stringed musical instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass) that houses the tuning pegs. ... The strings of a harp A string is the vibrating element which is the source of vibration in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. ... Fretted guitar fingerboard Fretless violin fingerboard The fingerboard, (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments), is a part of most stringed instruments. ... The violoncello, usually abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as in the ch of check), is a bowed stringed instrument, a member of the violin family. ... A cello bow In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ...

Uses in music

It was heavily used, and continues to be used, in Afghan music. Its also played in other countries such as India, most likely tracing its origin to Greater Iran because of its use in the Sassanid court, and Morocco, where a tradition of Andalusian classical music has been kept alive by descendants of Muslims who left Spain as refugees following the Reconquista. Since the 1980s, Afghanistan has been involved in near constant violence. ... For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation). ... Morisco (Spanish Moor-like) or mourisco (Portuguese) is a term referring to a kind of New Christian in Spain and Portugal. ... For other senses of this word, see Reconquista (disambiguation). ...

The rebab was adopted as a key instrument in Arab classical music, along with such instruments as the oud (ancestor of the lute), the ney (end-blown flute), and various percussion instruments. Much Arab music is based on the style developed in Andalucia during its Islamic period, and includes instrumental passages, usually with a strong element of improvisation, alternating with sung poetry. Improvisations or taksim are based on a complex system of modes (maqamat) and rhythms (iquala). The maqamat have different combinations of 24 possible quarter-tones, and each has its own mood, often associated with particular feelings or seasons. One hundred and eleven rhythmic patterns or iquala can be used; the simplest of these is the rajaz, based on the rhythm of a camel's hooves on the sand.. It is said that drum beats were used to keep the camels mesmerised throughout a long trip across the desert- at journey's end the drums would stop and the camels would drop down dead. (When drums stop, very bad!) Arab music is the music of Arabic-speaking people or countries, especially those centered around the Arabian Peninsula, though Peter van der Merwe (1989, p. ... For other uses, see Oud (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Ney (disambiguation). ... Motto: Dominator Hercules Fundator Andaluc a por s , para Espa a y la humanidad (Andalusia for herself, for Spain, and for humanity) Capital Seville Area  - total  - % of Spain Ranked 2nd 87 268 km 17,2% Population  - Total (2003)  - % of Spain  - Density Ranked 1st 7 478 432 17,9% 85,70... In music, a maqam [sic] (plural maqamat) is a technique of improvisation that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music. ... A quarter tone is an interval half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half a whole tone. ...

The rebab became a favourite instrument of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, and could be heard everywhere from the palace to the tea house. The Arab orchestra or group uses many drones, unisons and parallel octaves, giving a stirring, powerful sound, but it is mostly modal with little in the way of chordal movement. The rebab, though valued for its voice-like tone, has a very limited range (little over an octave), and was gradually replaced throughout much of the arab world by the violin and kemenche. “Ottoman” redirects here. ... In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustained or repeated, and most often establishing a tonality upon which the rest of the piece is built. ... For other uses, see Unison (disambiguation). ... In music, consecutive fifths (also known as parallel fifths) involve the concurrence of successive intervals of a perfect fifth between two voices in parallel motion; e. ... For other uses, see Octave (disambiguation). ... 1 Tepe - Top : Same as the body To Kifal - Head : Same as the body 2 Otia - Pegs (Ears): Same as the body 3 Goula - Neck : Same as the body 4 Spaler - Fingerboard (Slabbering bib) : Same as the body 5 Kapak - Soundboard 6 Rothounia - Soundholes (Nostrals) 7 Gaidaron - Bridge (Rider): Made...

In Indonesian gamelan music, the rebab is not part of the core of gongs, metallophones, and drums but instead an elaborating instrument, ornamenting the basic melody. In contrast to the other elaborating instruments (except the suling), however, and like the singers, it does not have to conform exactly to the scale of the other gamelan instruments (with effects such as barang miring, the insertion of non-slendro pitches into a slendro piece to evoke a sad mood), and can be played in relatively free time, finishing its phrases after the beat of the gong ageng (the big gong that "rules" the ensemble). In both Indonesian and Malay gamelan music, it is traditional for rebab players to heavily ornament their melodies, just as singers do in those styles. The rebab also frequently plays the buka when it is part of the ensemble.^[1] Gamelan - Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesian origin typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and vocalists may also be included. ... A gong is any one of a wide variety of metal percussion instruments. ... Generally speaking, a metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet. ... Bass drum made from wood, rope, and cowskin A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion group that can be large, technically classified as a membranophone. ... The panerusan instruments or elaborating instruments are one of the divisions of instruments used in the gamelan. ... The balungan (Javanese: skeleton, frame) is sometimes called the core melody of a gamelan composition. ... Suling Suling is an Indonesian flute made out of bamboo used in gamelan ensembles. ... Slendro (called salendro by the Sundanese) is a pentatonic (five tone) scale, one of the two most common scales used in Indonesian gamelan music. ... Two gong rails; the two sets (on unconnected stands) are pélog and sléndro. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The buka (Javanese for opening) is the short introduction to pieces of gamelan. ...

It is related to the Iraqi instrument the djose, which has four strings.

See also

• Persian Rubab
• Rebec
• Gadulka
• Gusle
• Gudok
• Kamancheh
• Kemenche
• The lyra of Crete
• Kobyz

The rubab (also spelled rubāb) is a plucked string instrument from Afghanistan and Pakistan. ... The rebec in Virgin among Virgins (1509), by Gerard David. ... Gadulka Tuning The Gadulka (Bulgarian: Гъдулка) is a folk Bulgarian string musical instrument played with a bow. ... Serbian Gusle The gusle or gusla (Albanian: Lahuta, Bulgarian: Гусла, Croatian: Gusle, Serbian: Гусле, Gusle) is a single-stringed instrument used in the Balkans and on the Dinarides area. ... Gudok is an ancient Russian string musical instrument, which was played with a bow. ... It has been suggested that Kamancha be merged into this article or section. ... 1 Tepe - Top : Same as the body To Kifal - Head : Same as the body 2 Otia - Pegs (Ears): Same as the body 3 Goula - Neck : Same as the body 4 Spaler - Fingerboard (Slabbering bib) : Same as the body 5 Kapak - Soundboard 6 Rothounia - Soundholes (Nostrals) 7 Gaidaron - Bridge (Rider): Made... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Classical music -Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Rock Regional styles Aegean Islands - Arcadia - Argos - Athens - Crete - Cyclades - Dodecanese Islands - Epirus - Ionian Islands - Lesbos - Macedonia - Peloponnesos - Thessaloniki - Thessaly - Thrace - Cyprus Crete is an island that is a SMALL part of Greece. ... Yan Gleyzer playing a kobyz (He is holding the bow incorrectly. ...

Notes

External links

• Nay-Nava the encyclopedia of persian music instruments
• Rebab
• The Rebab