Yesterday, a dear friend brought me a gorgeous instrument called Rubab (photo below). It was shipped from Afghanistan to the U.S. a few weeks ago. It bitter-sweet so see such a treasure leaving its homeland,. However, it was hidden by a music maker to escape the chaotic and unpredictable future. I fell in love with the instrument and wrote this piece on guzheng inspired by rubab’ s beauty and history. Thanks to my dear friend who will be taking great care of it.
The rubab is one of the national musical instruments of Afghanistan; and is also commonly used in Pakistan in areas inhabited by the Pashtun and Baloch, and also played by Sindhi people in Sindh, by Kashmiri people in Kashmir, and by the Punjabis of the Punjab.
According to Wikipedia:
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 is attested from the 7th century CE. 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.
Wu Fei 吴非
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