View source for Kissar

{{Short description|East African musical instrument}}
{{for|the Romanian village of Noroieni, called Kissár in Hungarian|Lazuri, Satu Mare}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox Instrument
| name = Kissar
| names = 
| image = Kissar.JPG
| caption = A 19th century kissar in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
| background = string
| hornbostel_sachs = 123.5
| hornbostel_sachs_desc = Composite [[chordophone]] sounded with a [[plectrum]]
| developed = [[Sumer]], Egypt, ([[Bronze Age]])
| range = 
| related = * [[lyre]]
* [[Cithara]]
* [[harp]]
* [[gue]]
}}
The '''''kissar''''' (also spelled '''''kissir'''''), '''tanbour''' or '''gytarah barbaryeh''' is the traditional [[Nubian people|Nubian]] [[lyre]], still in use in Egypt, [[Sudan]] and [[Ethiopia]]. 
It consists of a body having instead of the traditional [[tortoise]]-shell back, a shallow, round bowl of wood, covered with a [[Sounding board|soundboard]] of sheepskin, in which are two small round sound-holes. The arms, set through the soundboard at points distant about the third of the diameter from the circumference, have the familiar fan shape. Five [[Catgut|gut]] strings, knotted round the bar and raised from the soundboard by means of a bridge tailpiece similar to that in use on the modern guitar, are plucked by means of a [[plectrum]] by the right hand for the [[melody]], while the left hand sometimes twangs some of the strings as a soft [[Drone (music)|drone]] accompaniment.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=837}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">
File:Frederick Goodall, The Kissar Player.jpg|Egypt, 1859. ''The Kissar Player'',<br>painting by Frederick Goodall
File:النوبي الموسيقي.jpg|Man playing kissar in Egypt
</gallery>
The kissar has been a popular  instrument in northern Sudan in Nubian and [[Shaigiya]] music, but also among the [[Nuba]] and [[Beja people]].<ref>Mahi Ismail. Sudan. 1995. In Sadie, Stanley (ed.) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', vol. 18. London, Macmillan, pp. 325-331.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Krar]]
* [[Tanbura]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Kissar|volume=15 |page=837}}

{{Arabic musical instruments}}

[[Category:Nubia]]
[[Category:Lyres]]
[[Category:Ethiopian musical instruments]]
[[Category:Egyptian musical instruments]]
[[Category:Sudanese musical instruments]]