Yatag
The
Yatag is the Mongolian half tube zither with movable bridges. It is constructed
as a box with a convex surface and used to have 10 to 12 silk strings. The
Yatag was first documented in the 14th century where it was used in the Mongol
court the strings are plucked with one hand while the other hand creates a tone
change or tremolo by pressing the non vibrating part of the string behind the
bridge. there are many other techniques such as flicking the string with the
right hand. the Yatag is important in Mongolian folklore, the epics containing
several references to Yatags with a large number of strings. In the western
Mongolian epic the Jangar, the 16 year old queen Agai Shabdal plays a Yatag
with 82 bridges and 8,000 strings!. Perhaps this was too much for her to manage
as in the epic she plays only on the
"seven lower bridges".
Yatag
playing became quite rare at the turn of the century but was strongly revived
in the 1950's with a Korean style instrument. The 13 string Yatag is now used
to accompany singing and in ensembles.