Kyrgyzstan · Instrument Making / Wood Carving
Комуз (Komuz)
The komuz (Комуз) is the primary musical instrument of Kyrgyz nomadic culture — a three-string fretless lute carved from a single piece of apricot or juniper wood with a thin spruce soundboard. The komuz is the instrument of the akyn (bard) and the manaschi (Epic of Manas reciter) — the central oral tradition of Kyrgyz culture. The defining technical knowledge is the soundboard tap calibration: the thin spruce soundboard is graduated in thickness by carving from inside the body until the board, when tapped, produces a specific tone — 'when I tap the board and it sounds like a ripe melon, it is ready.' Ripe melon resonance is the tonal target.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Component of Epic of Manas UNESCO inscription (2003); Kyrgyzstan national ICH list for komuz
Chiy (Чий — Stipa capillata or Phragmites australis) is the reed screen tradition of Kyrgyz nomadic culture — producing the large woven reed mats that form the outer wind-break layer of the yurt, placed between the yurt's wooden lattice…
Kömöldürük (Кемелдирик) is the Kyrgyz embossed leather chest strap worn by ceremonial horses — the most elaborately decorated element of Kyrgyz equestrian equipment.
Ala-kiyiz (Ала-кийиз — 'colorful felt') is the second major Kyrgyz felt tradition — distinct from shyrdak (CRAFT-0698) in that the decorative pattern is formed during the felting process itself, not cut from finished felt.
Shyrdak (Шырдак) is the Kyrgyz felt mosaic tradition — producing the elaborately patterned floor mats and wall hangings that are the primary decorative textile of the Kyrgyz yurt.
Palas (Палас — flat-woven) and kilem (Килем — pile carpet) are the Kyrgyz woven carpet traditions — distinct from the Uzbek and Turkmen pile carpet traditions in using a strictly symmetric (Turkish/Ghiordes) knot rather than the Persian…
Sebet (Себет — basket) is the willow basketry tradition of the Chuy Valley in northern Kyrgyzstan — distinct from the felt and leather traditions of the southern and mountain regions in being a sedentary river-valley craft producing…
The making of the berimbau — a single-stringed musical bow consisting of a curved wood bow (verga or arco), a steel string (arame), and a resonating chamber made from a dried, hollowed gourd (cabaça) — the leading instrument of capoeira,…
The making of classical and flamenco guitars in the Madrid tradition — the lineage descended from Antonio de Torres (Almería; 1817–1892) whose innovations defined the modern classical guitar.
The making of the didgeridoo (yidaki in Yolŋu language) — the long, hollow wind instrument originating in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and among the oldest wind instruments in the world, with origins estimated at 1,000 to 1,500 years…
The making of the concert zither (Konzertzither) — the Alpine plucked string instrument with 4–5 melody strings over a fretted fingerboard and 29–37 open accompaniment strings across the soundboard, whose specific acoustic character is…
The making of caixas de Marabaixo — the traditional drums central to Marabaixo, the Afro-Brazilian musical, dance, and religious tradition of Mazagão Velho and the wider quilombola community of Amapá state, Brazil's northernmost state on…
Himalayan singing bowls are hammered metal bowls producing sustained multi-tonal singing when struck or when a mallet circles the rim.