{{Short description|Turkic bowed string instrument}} {{For-multi|the music streaming service|Qobuz}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox instrument |name=Kobyz |names= |image=Musical instruments on display at the MIM (14351816715).jpg |classification= *Bowed string instrument |range= |related= * Byzantine lira * Byzaanchy * Calabrian Lira * Cretan lira * Gadulka * Gusle * Gudok * Igil * Morin Khuur * Kamancheh * Kemenche * Rebec * Rebab }} {{Infobox intangible heritage | ICH = Art of crafting and playing Kobyz | Country = Uzbekistan | ID = 02329 | Region = APA | Year = 2025 | Session = 20th | List = Need of Urgent Safeguarding}}
The '''kobyz''' or '''qobyz''',{{efn|{{langx|kk|қобыз|qobyz}}; {{langx|ba|ҡумыҙ|qumıź}}; {{langx|tt|кубыз|qubız}}}} also known as the '''kylkobyz''',{{efn|{{langx|kk|қылқобыз|qylqobyz}}; {{langx|ba|ҡыл ҡумыҙ|qıl qumıź}}; {{langx|tt|кылкубыз|qılqubız}}}} is an ancient Turkic bowed string instrument, spread among Kazakhs, Karakalpaks,<ref name="Levin2016">{{cite book |last1=Levin |first1=Theodore |title=The Music of Central Asia |date=2016 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=9780253017642}}</ref>{{rp|114}} Bashkirs, and Tatars. The Kyrgyz variant is called the {{ill|kyl-kyiak|ky|кыл-кыяк}}).{{r|"Levin2016"|p=63}}
The kobyz has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather.
Traditionally kobyzes were sacred instruments, owned by shamans and baksıs (traditional spiritual medics). According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sickness and death.
== In Kazakh music == In the 1930s, when the first folk instrument orchestras were established in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, a new kind of kobyz came into existence. It now had four metallic strings and thus became closer to a violin. Such a modernized kobyz can be used to play both Kazakh music and the most complicated works of violin literature. One of the few western musicians to use the kobyz is Trefor Goronwy.
While many Kazakh ''kobyz'' players and scholars theorize that bards accompanied themselves on the ''kobyz'' during recitation of epics,{{r|Levin2016|p=357}} today a mainstay of the Kazakh ''kobyz'' repertoire is küi, which are short programmatic pieces composed as instrumental narration or expression of emotion, often employing the purposeful imitation of sounds such as bird calls or horse hooves.{{r|Levin2016|p=362}}
== In Karakalpak music == The ''kobyz'' is still played today by ''jyrau'' (one of the two types of Karakalpak bard), as accompaniment during recitation of epics and dastan.{{r|Levin2016|p=114}} The ''kobyz'' punctuates spoken narrative, plays the melodic line in unison with the voice during the sung parts, supports sustained notes in the voice by repeatedly bowing the same note, and plays the melody when the ''jyrau'' is not singing.{{r|Levin2016|p=114–115}}
The ''jyrau'' sings with a guttural, raspy timbre, in a style common to many nomadic groups of Central Asia, Mongolia, and Southern Siberia. Although this timbre was in the past associated with shamanic practice, living memory of this has died out, and modern ''jyrau'' instead interpret the timbre as a vocal imitation of the ''kobyz'' itself.{{r|Levin2016|p=114}}
== In Tatar music == thumb|Tatar qylqubız The art of kobyz flourished before the fall of the Kazan khanate in 1552 among Tatars and some other ethnic groups of Volga region. However, this art was preserved until the end of the 18th century among the Tatar dervishes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Макаров|first=Геннадий|url=https://tatkniga.ru/reader/default.php?baseurl=/reader/DataProvider/AjaxExample/3429/ru/|title=Дәрвишләр сөхбәтендә|publisher=Татарстан китап нәшрияты|year=2011|isbn=978-5-298-02168-5|location=Kazan|pages=159|archive-date=2020-07-06|access-date=2020-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706145900/https://tatkniga.ru/reader/default.php?baseurl=/reader/DataProvider/AjaxExample/3429/ru/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Today the instrument is used in various Tatar ethnic ensembles like Bermenchek etc. and it is studied in depth by a candidate of art history at the Kazan Conservatory {{Not translated|Gennady Makarov (1952)|lt=Gennady Makarov|tt|Геннадий Макаров (1952)|WD=}}.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2016-04-27|title=Воскресная школа ждет наших детей|url=http://tuganaylar.ru/news/etnografichsekaya-mozaika/voskresnaya-shkola-zhdet-nashih-detey|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Туганайлар (journal)}}</ref>
== In Kyrgyz music == [[Image:One Kyrgyz Som-(detail).jpg|thumb|left|200px|One Kyrgyz som note (reverse side) depicting a ''kyl kyyak'' (right)]] The '''kyl kyyak''' (Kyrgyz: кыл кыяк {{IPA|ky|qɯl qɯˈjɑq|}}) (sometimes spelt kyl kiak and sometimes without the 'kyl') is a stringed musical instrument used in Kyrgyz music.
The instrument is carved from a single piece of wood (typically apricot) and typically measures 60–70 cm. It has 2 strings, one to provide melody and the other resonance. The kyl kyyak is played vertically with a bow and can be played on horseback.
The strings and bow are normally made from horse hair and many instruments feature a carved horse's head. This all reflects the importance of the horse in Kyrgyz rural culture. {{clear}}
==See also== [[File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Kauz, a Small Two-Stringed Instrument with a Bow WDL10823.png|thumb|Kobyz player, Turkestan, circa 1865-1872.]] *Music of Central Asia *Bağlama *Banhu *Byzantine Lyra, the bowed lyre of the Byzantine Empire *Chuurqin *Cobza *Dutar *Dombra *Erhu *Gadulka *Gudok *Gusle *Kamancheh *Kemenche *Komuz *Lute *Rebab *Tovshuur *The lyra of Crete
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929150401/http://www.orchestra.kz/index.php?eng=eng Kurmangazy Academic orchestra of national instruments] *[http://www.myspace.com/treforgoronwy Trefor Goronwy]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Necked bowl lutes Category:Drumhead lutes Category:Bowed instruments Category:Kazakhstani musical instruments Category:Culture of Kazakhstan Category:Continuous pitch instruments Category:Sacred musical instruments Category:Kazakhstani folk music instruments