Not to be confused with
CEng (the
post-nominal for
Chartered Engineer or an alternate name for the Carleton Student Engineering Society). The çeng is a Turkish
harp. Descended from ancient Near Eastern instruments, it was a popular
Ottoman instrument until the last quarter of the 17th century. The ancestor of the
Ottoman harp is thought to be an instrument seen in ancient
Assyrian tablets. While a similar instrument also appears in
Egyptian drawings. In the late 20th century, instrument makers and performers began to revive the çeng, with newer designs incorporating advanced tuning mechanisms such as those found on the
qanun. Tone bending is also possible, by pressing on the string behind the bridge. Whereas the soundbox on the old çeng was on the upper part of the instrument, modern instruments have the soundbox on the lower part. In 1995, Fikret Karakaya, a
kemençe player from Turkey, made a çeng using the descriptions in the
masnavi "Çengname" by the Turkish poet Ahmed-i Dai, also
Iranian and
Ottoman miniatures from the 15th and 16th centuries. He presently plays and records with the istrument.
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