About Kazakh Dombra
The dombra is a two-stringed lute hollowed from a single block of apricot or mulberry, with a long fretted neck inlaid in bone and horn. It carries the *kui* — a short instrumental piece that tells a story with no words at all.
This system takes nothing from postcards and everything from the instrument: the honey varnish of the soundboard as page ground, the darker back and neck as primary, bone inlay as hairline, the fingerboard as text, and the red felt the instrument rests on as the one loud voice in the room.
- Origin
- Kazakhstan and the Kazakh steppe, Central Asia
- Era
- pre-1900 steppe tradition; Kurmangazy Sagyrbaiuly 1823–1896; UNESCO inscription 2014
- Key figures
- Kurmangazy Sagyrbaiuly · Dina Nurpeiisova · Tattimbet Kazangapuly
- Movements
- kui instrumental storytelling · tökpe and shertpe playing schools · Kazakh oral epic performance
Kazakh Dombra design spec
Colors
Typography
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