Description: The Dramyen also goes by the names “Sgra-Snyan”, or “Danyen” or “Damyen” or “Damyan”, is a chordophone being a long-necked fretless lute found in the Himalayan regions particularly Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan. My specimen is Bhutani. The Bhutani models of the dramyen are the ones with the 7-strings other models such as the Nepali, Ladakhi, and Tibetan dramyens have 6 strings. The dramyen is used to accompany folk-singing, songs and dances. The ornamentation is religious and is influenced by the Buddhist iconography.

The story of my specimen : This Bhutani dramyen I found in New York City at the time I found the instrument hung on the wall and knew what the instrument was and said to my father when he and I were on vacation in year 1999. I said to my father “I want that one” my father knew which instrument but did not know the name of the instrument however he new the instrument was a personally important acquisition and remains to be to this very day.

Origins: It’s believed the dramyen may have its origins with in Tibet and spread around the Diaspora with in Nepal, Himalayan mountain regions to Bhutan. This instrument has slightly different variations of one and other in regards to the communities of people to which this instrument is played in. 

Construction & Anatomy: The dramyen is a chordophone being a long-necked fretless lute in which has 7-strings, the 7-string is a sympathetic or “drone” string. This string usually resonates when the instrument is played. The body of the dramyen even still today is often hand-carved from a single-peace of wood; a resonant chamber is formed by stretching animal skin (goat or yak skin) over the body of the dramyen. All the tuning pegs are hand carved and wooden. The rather decorative and ornamental paint job is done by using blue, dark blue, cyan, red, orange, green paint, along with chesso being a substance originally used in “guilding” though is used to give a “3 dimensional approach” to the decorative styling of this instrument. This is common of both this time period and the dramyen over all.

The artwork in detail: The materials used for painting are old fashioned some what, mayby "lead based" or "vegitable based" depending how the paints are maid. Along with the dies used on the tuning pegs are "vegitable based". Chesso being (in modern art terms is often acrillic based material used to add three dimentional patterns or "feel" to art-work"). This approch is taken here, although the chesso is in "gold" colour perhaps with actual gold powder in the chesso formula when that was made with the instrument its self.