Jadagan

{{More citations needed|date=May 2009}}

{{Infobox Instrument

| name = Jadagan

| names =

| image =

| image_capt =

| background = string

| classification = *String instruments

| hornbostel_sachs =

| hornbostel_sachs_desc =

| developed = Antiquity

| range =

| related = *Yatga

}}

The jadagan ({{langx|kjh|чадыған|çadığan}}, {{langx|ru|чатхан|chatkhan}}, or Siberian harp) is a wooden board zither of the Khakas people in Siberia.

The jadagan usually has 6 or 7 strings stretched across movable bridges and tuned a fourth or fifth apart. The body is hollowed out from underneath like an upturned trough. It has a convex surface and an end bent towards the ground. The strings are plucked and the sound is very smooth. The length of the instrument is around {{Convert|1.5|m|in}}.{{Cite web |title=Traditional Instruments of the Khakas people - text in English |url=http://www.face-music.ch/instrum/khakassia/khakas_instrum.html |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=www.face-music.ch}}

The instrument was considered to be sacrosanct and playing it was a rite bound to taboos. It was mainly used at court and in monasteries, since strings symbolised the twelve levels of the palace hierarchy.

In the West

Folklorist Nancy Thym-Hochrein has researched the instrument,{{cite book|author1=International Council for Traditional Music|author2=Columbia University. Dept. of Music|title=Directory of traditional music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gssJAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2012|year=1999|publisher=International Council for Traditional Music|page=31}} and musician Raphael De Cock is a contemporary player.

Related instruments

Notes