Qobyz (Kazakh Horsehair Fiddle)
Bowed two-string fiddle of shamans and bakhsy among the Kazakhs, carved from a single piece of wood with horsehair strings and a leather-covered resonator. Legend names Korkyt Ata as its inventor; its sound was held to drive away evil spirits, sickness and death. The qobyz remains the emblematic instrument of Kazakh epic and ritual tradition. The two thick horsehair strings are bowed like a cello, the instrument held between the knees, and its deep, wavering tone was considered the very voice of the steppe. In earlier centuries it accompanied the bakhsy, the Kazakh shaman-healer, who used its