Description:
The rewap is a plucked long necked lute and a member of the chordophone
family of instruments. This instrument is known by other other names,
including "rewapu" and or "rebab". In Central Asia there exists several
forms of this instrument. However these plucked rebab's differ in
construction from each other. One type of rewap is played by the Dolan
people in Xinjiang China [Turkestan] is sometimes called a "Dolan
rebab". A highly ornate version of of this instrument with moveable
nylon frets is played by the Uighur people. Anatomy of the Rewap: My specimen of rewapu has a total of 6 strings. It is fretless and the strings are doubled accept for one that serves as a drone. The "horns" are an ornamental feature of this particular instrument are shorter in length, then it's Uighur counter part. Small sound holes are drilled near the bottom end of the neck where it meets the body. The neck and the body are made from separate pieces of wood. The body is hand carved or gouged from a block of wood and then carved into its desired shape. Animal hide of maybe goat or sheep is stretched over the instruments surface.