Rubab (instrument)

This article is about the Central Asian plucked instrument otherwise known as the "Kabuli rebab". For the bowed instrument, see Rebab. For the north Indian "Seni rebab", see Seni rebab.

Rubab

Classification	Stringed instruments
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.321-6 (Necked bowl lutes)
Related instruments
Arbajo, dotara, dranyen, Pamiri rubab, seni rebab, sarod, tungna, dutar, tanbur

Art of crafting and playing rubab/rabab
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Country	Afghanistan, India, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
Reference	02143
Region	Asia and the Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	2024 (19th session)
List	Representative

Rubab, robab, or rabab (Persian: رُباب, Punjabi: ਰਬਾਬ, Kashmiri: رَبابہٕ, Sindhi: رَبابُ (Arabic script), रबाबु (Devanagari), Azerbaijani / Turkish: Rübab, Tajik / Uzbek рубоб) is a lute-like musical instrument. The rubab is the national musical instrument of Afghanistan; it is also commonly played in India and Pakistan, mostly by Pashtuns, Balochis, Sindhis, Kashmiris, and Punjabis. Variants of the rubab include the Kabuli rebab of Afghanistan, the Rawap of Xinjiang, the Pamiri rubab of Tajikistan and the seni rebab of northern India. The instrument and its variants spread throughout West, Central, South and Southeast Asia. The Kabuli rebab from Afghanistan derives its name from the Arabic rebab and is played with a bow while in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the instrument is plucked and is distinctly different in construction.

Size variants

English	Strings	Pashto	Persian	In inches
Small	5 sympathetic strings	وړوکی رباب Warukay rabab	زيلچه Zaliche	27
Medium	19 strings, 13 sympathetic strings	منځنۍ) رباب) (Mianzanai) rabab	رباب Rubab	28
Large	21 strings, 15 sympathetic strings	لوی رباب Loy rabab	شاه‌رباب (king size) Shah rabab	30

Components

Historical instruments

Iranian style rubab from the 13th century C.E., found in Rayy (near Tehran, Iran)

Woman playing the seni rebab in Medieval India, 1680–1700

Kushan Empire, 1st to 3rd century. Lute or vina, from the Yusufzai district near Peshawar. Greco Buddhist (Gandhara School). Resembles rubab, sarod and tungna.

Mongolian lute, circa 1297, tomb of Wang Qing, China

English	Pashto	Persian
Headstock	تاج Tāj	سرپنجه or تاج "Tāj" or "Sar Penjah"
Tuning peg	غوږي Ghwagi/Ghwazhi	گوشی‌ Goshi/Gushi
Nut	?	شیطانک Sheitanak
Neck	غړۍ Gharai	دسته Dastah
Strings	تارونه Tāruna	تار Tār
Long/Low drones	شاتار Shātār	شاهتار Shahtar
Short/High drones	?	?
Sympathetic strings	بچي Bachi	?
Frets	پرده Pardah	پرده Pardah
Chest	سينه Sinah	سینه Sinah
Side	?	صفحه Safhah
Skin belly	ګوډی or څرمن "Tsarman" or "Goday"	پوست Pust
Head or Chamber	ډول Dol	کاسه Kasah
Bridge	ټټو Tatu	خرک Kharak
tailpiece	?	سیم‌گیر Seemgeer
Plectrum	شاباز Shabaz	مضراب Mezrab

In detail about the strings:

English	Explanation	Pashto	Persian
Strings	Main strings: 3 and made out of nylon Long Drone: 2-3 and made out of steel Short Drone: 2 and made out of steel	تارونه Tāruna	تار Tār
First/Low/Bass String	Low/Bass String is the thickest string	کټی Katay	?
Second String	Thiner than bass string and thicker than high string	بم Bam	بم Bam
Third/High String	The thinest string out of all the three main strings	زېر Zer	زیر Zir

Construction

2011 postal stamp of Azerbaijan depicting a 19th century rubab

The body is carved out of a single piece of wood, with a head covering a hollow bowl which provides the sound-chamber. The bridge sits on the skin and is held in position by the tension of the strings. It has three melody strings tuned in fourths, two or three drone strings and up to 15 sympathetic strings. The instrument is made from the trunk of a mulberry tree, the head from an animal skin such as goat, and the strings from the intestines of young goats (gut) or nylon.

History

See also: Lute § History and evolution of the lute; and History of lute-family instruments § Gambus and rabâb, skin tops plucked and bowed, rebab, rubab rabâb, robab

The earliest historical record of an instrument named rabab dates back to 10th-century Arabic texts, as identified by Henry George Farmer. This instrument, along with its variations like rubab, rebab, and rabob, subsequently gained popularity in various regions of West, Central, South, and Southeast Asia. It is mentioned in old Persian books, and many Sufi poets mention it in their poems. It is the traditional instrument of Khorasan and is widely used in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as in the Xinjiang province of northwest China and the Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab regions of northwest India.

The rubab is known as "the lion of instruments" and is one of the two national instruments of Afghanistan (with the zerbaghali). Classical Afghan music often features this instrument as a key component. Elsewhere it is known as the Kabuli rebab in contrast to the Seni rebab of India. In appearance, the Kabuli rubab looks slightly different from the Indian rubab. It is the ancestor of the north Indian sarod, although unlike the sarod, it is fretted.

The rubab was the first instrument used in Sikhism; it was used by Bhai Mardana, companion of the first guru, Guru Nanak. Whenever a shabad was revealed to Guru Nanak he would sing and Bhai Mardana would play on his rubab; he was known as a rababi. The rubab playing tradition is carried on by Sikhs such as Namdharis.

• 
  Young man with Iranian rubab, 16th century, Safavid Empire. 8-shaped body resembles a tar, but tars have both sides of the 8 covered with hide. Rubabs had a lower section covered with hide, and an upper hollow section covered with wood.
• 
  Abbasid era rubab, painted on the inside of a bowl, 10th century C. E. The instrument has two strings.

Variants

Photograph of rabab players (rababis) titled 'Lute Players Near the Golden Temple', taken on 28 January 1903

In northern India, the seni rebab, which emerged during the Mughal Empire, has "a large hook at the back of its head, making it easier for a musician to sling it over the shoulder and play it even while walking." The Sikh rabab was traditionally a local Punjabi variant known as the 'Firandia' rabab (Punjabi: ਫਿਰੰਦੀਆ ਰਬਾਬ Phiradī'ā rabāba), however Baldeep Singh, an expert in the Sikh musical tradition, challenges this narrative.

In Tajikistan a similar but somewhat distinct rubab-i-pamir (Pamiri rubab) is played, employing a shallower body and neck. The rubab of the Pamir area has six gut strings, one of which, rather than running from the head to the bridge, is attached partway down the neck, similar to the fifth string of the American banjo.

Notable players

• Ustad Mohammed Omar (1905—1980), Rabab player From Kabul, Afghanistan
• Ustad Rahim Khushnawaz (1945-2010), Rabab Player From Herat, Afghanistan
• Ustad Homayun Sakhi, Rabab Player From Kabul, Afghanistan
• Ustad Ramin Saqizada, Rabab Player From Afghanistan
• Ustad Sadiq Sameer, Rabab Player, From Afghanistan
• Ustad Shahzaib Khan, Rabab Player From Nowshera/Nokhar, Pakistan
• Ustad Waqar Atal, Rabab Player, From Peshawer, Pakistan
• Ustad Hamyuo sakhi, Rabab player, From Afghanistan
• John Baily, Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths, University of London
• Khaled Arman (b. 1965), Rabab Player and Guitarist From Kabul, Afghanistan
• Daud Khan Sadozai, Afghan Rubab and Sarod Player from Kabul Afghanistan
• Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Rubab Player and Punjabi God (Guru)

See also

• Rababi
• Rebab
• Rebec
• Sarod

External links

• Video, rubab being played. Part of performance is slide rubab, like slide guitar.
• Existence of rubab threatened in modern Afghanistan.
• Will the Taliban Stop the Music in Afghanistan?
• Farabi School
• World Music Central - Ustad Mohammad Omar
• Music of the Uyghurs