Topshur (Altai Two-String Lute)
Two-stringed plucked lute of the Altai people, carved with a shallow bowl body, hide soundboard and gut or horsehair strings. The topshur accompanies the kaychi storytellers, who perform the great Altai heroic epics such as the Tale of Maadai-Kara; its music is bound to Altai oral tradition and is often played before the fire and during ritual. The player holds the instrument against the body and plucks with a bare hand, and the music is thought to summon the presence of the epic's heroes as the singer speaks their deeds. The two strings are sometimes tuned a fourth apart, and the tone is soft