Uyghur Rawap
The Uyghur rawap is a seven-stringed lute originating from today’s southern Xinjiang in China, but now played among Uyghurs in all regions for folk songs, narrative songs, classical music as well as contemporary compositions. It is popularly considered as the most emblematic of Uyghur instruments.
The earliest mention of the name “rabab” is in a treatise by the Arabic scholar Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad at the end of the 8th century, although at the time it described a sort of fiddle similar to today’s Persian kamancheh. It was only in the 14th century that the “rabab” was recorded as meaning a plucked lute, with a round sound chamber covered by parchment, and decorated by two horn shapes at the bottom of the neck. This form is preserved today in the Uyghur rawap as well as in other similarly named instruments among the Afghans and the Pamiris with local variations.
The body of the rawap is made out of a single piece of hollowed-out mulberry wood covered with python skin. It is often adorned with bone or plastic inlays, and has plastic frets. It has seven metal strings, of which six are sympathetic strings and one is for playing the melody.
