Name: Dramyen ( in Bhutani Language).

Origins: Bhutan (being the place to find the best quality instruments most decent quality dramyens are 100 years of age or more). Also Tibet and Nepal (Through the Sherpa Ethnic group also plays the Dramyen).

Region: Bhutan, (East of Nepal, land locked nation all borders), part of South Asia (Geographically).

Dramyen Tunings: C-D-G, tuning is in fifths.

Materials: Ghesso, (mixed in with paint), paint may be of "vegitable type dye origin, or of mineral based? not sure. wood (species:) one nail to hold neck-ornament in place over the neck its self.

Source: New York City, 1999 september.

Description: The Dramyen is a chordophone being a long-necked fretless lute found in the Himalayan regions particularly Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan. My specimen is Bhutani and does date back 200 years of age. This was confirmed by a Bhutani expert to whom my teacher Randy Raine Reusch had met. after a performace at the Sacred Music Festival in Thailand, in which the expert or musician confirmed to Randy that the best quality dramyens are often 200 years of age.

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. 

My Specimen, the story: 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. During the conlution of the trip to NYC in 1999 the dramyen then was packedged very carefully and then shiped through fed-ex and in turn it remains with me for this day. Much of what is found is tourist quality and quality control ia "dodgy" thing at best, becareful when hunting for these instruments, although I wish you the very best in success. Any one who has found a dramyen and wishes to share their stories or information.

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 head stock of the dramyen is representative of a dragon or serpent of some kind beign a mythological being in "Tibetan Bhuddism" and found through out this region.

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.