Rubab (instrument)

• large: Shah Rubab شاه رباب (Persian: شاه رباب‎, King Size), 21 strings like, 15 sympathetic strings, Shahrud, Shahnai Ney in King Size, Shahtar (Large string). (see to Rubabnamah (Persian: رباب نامه‎) of Sultan Walad, son of Rumi from Balkh.
• medium-sized: Rubab (Persian: رباب‎), 19 strings, 13 sympathetic strings
• small-sized: Zaliche (Persian: زيلچه‎), 5 sympathetic strings

• Kassah or Kasseh (Persian: کاسه‎) = bowl, Shell
• Badanah or Badaneh (Persian: بدنه‎) = body
• Safah or Safeh (Persian: صفحه‎) = side
• Dastah or Desteh (Persian: دسته‎) ('hand')= Neck (music)
• Goshi (Persian: گوشی‌‎) ('ear')= Tuning peg
• Sheitanak (little devil) (Persian: شیطانک‎) Nut (string instrument)
• Seemgeer (Persian: سیم گیر‎) ('wire-capture') = Site for binding the strings below the Corpus
• Sar Penjah or Ser Panjeh (Persian: سر پنجه‎) or Taj (Persian: تاج‎) 'fifty heads'
• Pust (Persian: پوست‎) = Pelt or Skin of goat,
• Kharak ("little donkey" or trestle) (Persian: خرک‎) = Bridge (instrument), secured on fur
• Mezrab (Persian: مضراب‎)= Plectrum

2011 postal stamp of Azerbaijan depicting a 19th century Rubab.

The body is carved out of a single piece of wood, with a membrane covering a hollow bowl that provides the sound-chamber. The bridge is positioned atop the membrane. It has three melody strings tuned in fourths, two or three drone strings and up to 15 sympathetic strings. The instrument is made from the trunk of a mulberry tree, the head from an animal skin such as goat, and the strings from the intestines of young goats (gut) or nylon.

The rubab is known as "the lion of instruments" and is one of the two national instruments of Afghanistan (with the zerbaghali). Classical Afghan music often features this instrument as a key component. Elsewhere it is known as the Kabuli rebab. In appearance, the Kabuli rubab looks slightly different from the Indian rubab.[4] It is the ancestor of the north Indian sarod, although unlike the sarod, it is fretted.[5]

The rubab is attested from the 7th century CE. It is mentioned in old Persian books, and many Sufi poets mention it in their poems. It is the traditional instrument of Khorasan and is widely used in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as the Xinjiang province of northwest China.[6]

The rubab was the first instrument used by Sikhism; it was used by Bhai Mardana, companion of Guru Nanak. Whenever a shabad was revealed to Guru Nanak he would sing and Bhai Mardana would play on his rubab; he was known as a rubabi. The rubab playing tradition is carried on by Sikhs such as Namdharis.

In Tajikistan a similar but somewhat distinct rubab-i-pamir (Pamiri rubab) is played, employing a shallower body and neck.[7] The rubab of the Pamir area has six gut strings, one of which, rather than running from the head to the bridge, is attached partway down the neck, similar to the fifth string of the American banjo.[8]

A man playing the Rubab in a park in Kabul

• Aziz Herawi (born 1952) Afghan born Ustad, now residing in California
• Mohammad Omar (musician) (1905—1980), Rubab player from Afghanistan
• Abdurahim Hamidov (1952–2013)
• Mohammad Rahim Khoshnavaz (b. 1943)
• Homayun Sakhi, Rubab player from Afghanistan
• Daud Khan Sadozai, Rubab player from Afghanistan
• Amjad Malang[9]
• Gulab Afridi, Rubab player from Peshawar, Pakistan
• Qais Essar, Rubab player from Afghanistan
• Atizaz Khattak, from Shaidu Nowshehra.

• Rebab
• Rebec
• Sarod

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rubab.

• Video, rubab being played. Part of performance is slide rubab, like slide guitar.
• Farabi School
• World Music Central - Ustad Mohammad Omar
• Music of the Uyghurs