I have downloaded it. Simply wonderful.

I saw Keyhan Kalhor play at UCLA with Shajarian and
Alizadeh last night. It was full of fire and Kalhor
was truly an Ostad full of spirit, technique and
essence that only music can tell.

Hello

For the members who have flate rate or DSL at home.
Watch the clip and enjoy and also look at the link section, you can
find great things....

http://alttv.screen.ru:8080/ramgen/new/kemancha.rm?altplay=kemancha.rm

Parham

Thanks to all for all the information. Peyman , Please
leave that link up for a few days. My friend says
Aliof is from Azarbayejan. He has great style and nice
phrase and expanded scales.

The second track sounds like it has electric guitar
with tremlo amp. Very sweet sound. Original.

wow.

May the magic of music touch every heart.

Pooyan, you have trained as a setar maker ?

Hello dear Larri,

According to some of your questions I write zhis message.

I'm a Student of great master Amir-Atai, however I'm not a Kamanche
maker. I participated a 4-year practical training for Setar. Master
Amir-Atai ist a great Kamanche maker woh makes Setar too.

He is not a member of this list, because he does not speak any foreign
   language.

The mohr which you mentioned is the name of the instrument maker and
not the factory. We do not make our instruments in mass.

For the process of making a Kamancheh you can find maybe some makers ,
which buy pegs or necks that are already made. But Ostad Amir-Atai
makes every thing by himself.


About Ostad Ghanbari. Ostad Ghanbari is the master of Amir-Atai and
many other instrument makers. His field of study is violin however he
makes many of the other instruments. Master Ghanbari is a professional
Violin and Viola maker, whose Violins was played by great masters such
Menuhin or David Feodorowitsch Oistrach.

His Student Amir-Atai specialized himself as a Kamanche maker whose
kamanches are like Steinway for Piano oder Stradivari for violin.
Amir-Atai's Kamanches are not only perfectly made in shape but also
perfect in sound performance. In this case Ghanbari makes Kamanches
which are not sounding as well. And exactly this is the difference
between Amir-Atai and Ghanbari only concerning Kamanche.

I do not know any better Kamanche maker than Amir-Atai.

I specialized myself as a student of Amir-Atai in field of musical
strings but specialy for kamanche stirngs.

Hope these lines will help you.

Best regards from Halle (Germany)


--- In Kamanche@yahoogroups.com, Larri Stellar <vanlarri@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Parham and all.
>
>   I have heard of Amir Atai. I understand he has made kamancheh for
Keyhan Kalhor and also for Sajarian's son.
>
>   Is Mr. Atai a member of our group now ? If so that is so
wonderful. If not can you invite him ?
>
>   There are so many new members . It is wonderful.
>
>   I have a question for you and all. There are many Fardin and
Hasheem kamancheh i see. They all have special mohr of their name. Is
this a mark that means they made it or could it be made by a factory
like a Gibson or Martin guitar.
>
>   Also in the process of making a Kamancheh do some makers buy pegs
or necks that are already made ?
>
>   Besides the Ghanbari kamancheh is there a maker who is considered
well known like Stratavarious is to violin or Steinway is to Piano ?
>
>   Also i hear that there are sometimes counterfit mohr. has anybody
ever had bad experience with this ?
>
>   I am happy to see so many postings in the group.
>   peace to all, Larri

Hello Larri and all dear members,

I do not know why the neck of some Kamanche is thick at the peg
box and then narrow near the bowl. Maybe it seems more beautiful,
nowadays the makers try to have narrow necks, so you can better the
neck hold and more rapidly play.

About the Mohr I can tell that the makers start to sign the
instruments, when they feel that they can make good enough from the
standpoint of quality.

Regards

Parham

Hello ALL ,
I'm sorry but I have another question about mohr. In
general around what point (what year ?) did the makers
start to sign their instruments ?

L.

Dear Parham ,

This is what I like so much about the group. When I
hear the answers I say in my mind "yes. . . of course
!" sometimes. The discussions make my mind to be open
and educated.

Some kamancheh have a neck that is thick at the peg
box and then narrow near the bowl. Some neck are more
like a pole and the same thickness from top to bottom.
Can you tell me something about this development ?

Larri

Dear Friend Mr. Athar,
I am in the US. Thanks for the invitation and
information. I have never heard of Maleki before. But
I am just a student of a few years. I wish you would
post some pictures of the Kamancheh when you have
time. Thanks. Larri

I wanted to thank you all for using english in this group. it is a great
benefit for those of us interested in Persian musical instruments who
speak only english. it is unfortunate that the setar group does not
do this because this is a very interesting musical instrument too.

--
ibn

Hello dear Larri and dear members,

1- I know Master Amir Atai personally, so I think he is not the one
that is with internet familiar, and I am not sure, that they can English.

2- In the past were not the musicians very important persons, from the
standpoint of socialposition, and worse was the position of the
instrumentmakers, we do not know so much about these people, but one
is famous, that their Kamanches are famous as Karim khaani, like the
photo of Master Bahari, you can see the photo in the startpage of our
group.

I have asked Jeffrey Werbock the owner of www.mugham.org about the
tunings of Kamancha, he has written so kindly:

There are a number of books on the subject, but in brief, the kamancha
is tuned either in fourths or fifths, so that the first and third
strings make an octave, and the 2nd and 5th strings make an octave.
The 1st and 2nd can be either a 4th or a 5th, and the same for the 3rd
and 4th strings.  When the 1st string makes a 5th with the 2nd, the
3rd string makes a fifth with the 4th string, and when the 1st string
makes a 4th with the 2nc string, the 3rd must make a 4th with the 4th
string.

For Dilkesh and Bayati Shiraz, the 1st string makes a 4th with the 2nd
string, and the 3rd string makes a 4th with the 4th string.  All other
mughams are played when the 1st string makes a 5th with the 2nd
string, and the 3rd string makes a 5th with the 4th string.
Naturally, when the first two strings and the last two strings make a
5th, then the interval between the 3nd string and the 3rd string must
be a 4th, and when the first two strings make a 4th, and so too the
last two strings make a 4th, then the 2nd and 3rd strings must make a 5th.

Then there are the tunings for Houmayoun, Segah and Zaboul, which are
different.  Also, Orta Mahur is different as well.  If you want all
the tunings for all the mughams, you should definitely get a book,
published in Azeri, to help you.

One great kemence player I know is Derya Turkan
(Türkan).  He lives in Istanbul and is probably one of
the best in Turkey.

-Christina Indianos

A stringed instrument that is played with a bow, the kamancha is found
among Eastern and Central Asian peoples under variety of names.

The kamancha plays as important a role in an Azerbaijani folk ensemble
as the violin does in an orchestra. Early kamanchas found in
Azerbaijan were made of pumpkin and nutmeg wood and decorated with
ivory. The one-stringed and two-stringed kamanchas are thought to be
descendents of the ancient Azerbaijani gopuz played with a bow.

The kamancha appears in medieval Azerbaijani literature as well as
traditional painted miniatures. The medieval musical analyst, Abdul
Qadir Maraghai, specifically mentioned the kamancha among other
instruments of the period. The poet Nizami (1141-1209) of Ganja, a
town in North Western Azerbaijan, also mentioned the kamancha in his
famous epic "Khosrov and Shirin." One of the most famous members of
the 16th century Tabriz school of miniatures, Mir Saeed Ali, depicts
the kamancha among other instruments in his miniatures (see left).

The kamancha reached its highest level of popularity in the 19th
century in connection with the development of Azerbaijan's khanande
art form (modal improvisations by folk singers).

Source: The Azerbaijan Musical Instruments by Majnun Kerimov

Personally, I think it sounds more like yayli tambur..

Sasha

Peyman, thank you for the interesting link. Peter certainly does
innovative things with the spike fiddle. However, after listening
to many of the samples of his long necked tarhu, i think it resembles
the dilruba more than the kamanche ! would you agree ?

--
ibn

Thank you Peyman,

yes, it does help. it is difficult to keep track of the
evolution of this important family of instruments. i'll
read Biffin's site this evening.

--
ibn

Hello dear members,

concerning to the Message of Larri, I wanted to introduce a great
master. His name is Bayaz Amir Atai. He is one of the best Kamanche
makers or maybe from the standpoint of some Kamanche players, the best
present Kamanche maker of Iran.

Parham

P.S. Please check the new photos and links in our group.

----------------------------------------------------------
Kathleen Hood <hoodkat@...>

I have a kamanche (bowed spike fiddle) for sale. Includes
bow and hard case. This kamanche was made in Iran, and was
brought to be by my former teacher, Morteza Varzi. I paid
$1,000 for it, but will sell it for $900 or best offer.

Please email me if you are interested. I live the Los
Angeles, CA (USA) area.
----------------------------------------------------------
Please contact her directly, please do not talk about it here.

--
Parham Nassehpoor
Persian Tar & Kamanche Player
http://tar.kaman.tripod.com/
--