Kemence

The term kemenche (Adyghe: Шык1э пщын, Turkish: kemençe, Armenian: քամանչա k’amanča, Laz: Ç'ilili - ჭილილი, Azerbaijani: kamança, Persian: کمانچه, Greek: λύρα) is used to describe two types of three-stringed bowed musical instruments:

1. a bottle-shaped lute, closely related to the Cappadocian Kemane, found in the Black Sea region of Asia Minor, it is also known as the "kementche of Laz" or Pontic kemenche and
2. a pear-shaped bowl lyre known as Classical kemenche (Turkish: Armudî kemençe), found mainly in Istanbul and the Eastern regions of Turkey and is closely related to the Byzantine lyra (Turkish: Rum Kemençesi).

Both types of kemenche are played in the downright position, either by resting it on the knee when sitting, or held in front of the player when standing. It is always played "braccio", that is, with the tuning head uppermost. The kemenche bow is called the doksar (Greek: δοξάρι), the Greek term for bow.

Its name derives from the Persian Kamancheh, the name is Persian and means merely "small bow".[1] Al-Kādirī, in his classification of musical instruments, mentioned the kemandje similar to the Arabic rabab and the Byzantine lyra (Margaret J. Kartomi, 1990). In Greece and the Pontic Greek diaspora, it is known as the lyra or the "kementzes": it is the main instrument used in Pontic music.