Qanbūs
Chordophone of Southern Asia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A qanbūs (Arabic: قنبوس) is a short-necked lute that originated in Yemen[1] and spread throughout the Arabian peninsula. Sachs considered that it derived its name from the Turkic komuz, but it is more comparable to the oud.[2] The instrument was related to or a descendant of the barbat, a (possibly) skin-topped lute from Central Asia.[3] The qanbūs has 6 or 7 nylon strings that are plucked with a plectrum to generate sound. Unlike many other lute-family instruments, the gambus has no frets. Its popularity declined in Yemen during the early 20th century reign of Imam Yahya; by the beginning of the 21st century, the oud had replaced the qanbūs as the instrument of choice for Middle-Eastern lutenists.
String instrument | |
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Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 321.321 (Necked-bowl lute, instruments in which sound is produced by one or more vibrating strings (chordophones, string instruments), in which the resonator and string bearer are physically united and can not be separated without destroying the instrument, in which the strings run in a plane parallel to the sound table (lutes), in which the string bearer is a plain handle (handle lutes), whose body is shaped like a bowl (necked bowl lutes).) |
Developed | Developed in Yemen, possibly from barbat. Transferred to Indonesia (and to a wider extent including Malay world countries), where further developed into new forms. |
Yemen migration saw the instrument spread to different parts of the Indian Ocean. In Muslim Southeast Asia (especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei), called the gambus, it sparked a whole musical genre of its own. Nowadays it is played in the traditional dance of Zapin and other genres, such as the Malay ghazal and an ensemble known as kumpulan gambus ("gambus group"). In the Comoros it is known as gabusi,[4] and in Zanzibar as gabbus.