"Dombra" - musical instrument

Dombra – Kazakh two-stringed plucked musical instrument. It is used as accompanying, solo and main instrument in the Kazakh traditional music.
Dombra sounds slowly and softly. The sound is produced with nipping, beating of the arm or mediator.
Shanak  - body of dombra, it plays the role of sound intensifier.
Kakpak – deck of dombra. Perceiving sounds by vibrating strings, it amplifies them and gives a color sound of the instrument - timbre.
Stand is a very responsible functional element of dombra. Passing the vibrations of strings to a deck and creating a first resonant contour to the spread of vibrations from the strings to the body, the stand is the real key to the sound of dombra. Power, smoothness and timbre of the instrument depend on its quality, shape, weight and configuration.
String – source of sound rippling of dombra.
Traditionally the sinew strings were used on dombra, they were produced of sheep or goat guts. It considered that strings of two-years sheep are of best quality. Such strings produce low sound and low tuning, characterizing for national music.
National narrators – akyns accompany their songs with playing dombra. Playing dombra of musical compositions is the favorite form of artwork of the Kazakhs. To the sound of dombra the Kazakhs perform folk songs.
At the beginning of the 50-s of the XX century the archeologists made excavations in Central Asia in those places where in ancient times the state of Khorezm was. Among other finds they found several terracotta statuettes. The statuettes depicted the musicians, who held instruments. The scientists recognized the ancestors of dombra in these two-stringed plucked instruments. Today dombra is still widely spread in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.