Images(22)

Pamir rubab

ALTERNATE NAME(S)

Long-neck lute
Rubab-i-pamir
Robab

Date1616-1617 ca.

Place MadePamir Mountains, Tajikistan, Asia

Place MadeKyrgyzstan, Asia

Serial No.none

SignedAn incised inscription on the back of the neck in Persian translates as: "The dearest precious rubab, heritage/inheritance in the name of Seyyed Hasan Shah, the year 1025." This date refers to the Hijri (Islamic) calendar, which correlates to the 17th century in the Gregorian calendar.DescriptionThis rubab, made in the Pamir Mountains, is likely the earliest surviving example of the instrument. Others of this name are attested as early as the 9th century. Variations of the rubab can be found throughout Central Asia, Iran, and Pakistan.

The body, neck, pegbox, and pegs are made of one piece of fruit wood (possibly mulberry), from which the body and half of the neck were cut out. The body is covered with leather (tacked with 8 wood nails), the upper hollowed part with a wooden top, pierced with 18 holes arranged in a triangular configuration.

Originally, there were 8 cut-out notches at at the end, one each per string. Old tender spots prove that formerly 8 strings were used. Two piece have since broken off. At present, the instrument has 6 strings, 5 of then hooked at the pegbox.

The pegbox and bridge are later replacements.DimensionsOverall length: 765 mm
Body length: 295 mm
Maximum body width over skin section: 197 mm
Maximum body width over wood section: 196 mm
Minimum body width: 77 mm
Neck length: 402 mm
Vibrating string length: 623 mm and 428 mm (short string)ProvenancePurchased in 1993 from Wurlitzer-Bruck, New York, New York. Previously owned by Mamadali Yusupovich Khalikov (b. 1914), an Uzbek musicologist and composer.Published ReferencesNMM catalog: _As Good as Gold: The First 50 Years (1973-2023)_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2023. (pp. 51, 56-57)

Kyle MacMillan. "On the Dakota Prairie, Where Instruments Are Fine Art," EMAg (Early Music America) 28, No. 3 (September 2022), p.47. (date is mistakenly printed as 616-617 rather than 1616-1617)

NMM Newsletter, January 1994, p. 4

Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1993

Object number05580

On View

Not on view