Rubab

Rubab

 

Rubab is a short-necked lute with a binary sound box. Rubab was a popular musical instrument during the Sassanid civilization, and many variations of it were created during its history (a brilliant improvement of Rubab led to the creation of the Tar). Nowadays, the Rubab is one of Afghanistan’s musical instruments. The sound box of Rubab consists of spherical and oblong-shaped parts, which join together and are covered by skin and wood, respectively. The sound box skin of Rubab is thicker than that of similar instruments such as Tar, and it’s because of the shorter neck and thicker string that puts more pressure on the skin by pushing the bridge. The seventh (or more) string is sometimes added to Rubab as a sympathetic string. Rubab plays by plectrum made of remex or soft plastic. It has a joyful bass sound.