Doshpuluur

The DOSHPULUUR is a three-stringed instrument, often compared to the banjo because it is plucked or strummed, although the doshpuluur's strings are unfretted. The sound box is made either entirely from wood or with goat skin stretched across a wooden frame. The first two strings are tuned a fifth apart and the third string forms the octave. In a four-stringed variety of doshpuluur, an extra string doubles the fifth an octave below. Ayan-ool Sam is shown playing a three-stringed doshpuluur made by Sholban Salchak.

The double-necked doshpuluur shown on the far right is an innovation made for Alash by Marat Damdyn. Each set of strings is tuned to a different key so that the player can quickly switch back and forth. This doshpuluur was designed specifically for the song "Oitulaash Xeveri."

The doshpuluur, a plucked instrument played by Ayan-ool Sam in the beginning of the concert and Bady-Dorzhu Ondarl towards the end, is often called the Tuvan lute. It would be more correct to say that lutes, guitars, and many other plucked instruments are descendants of the doshpuluur and instruments like it. Ayan-ool Sam’s doshpuluur is a modern adaptation. The original instrument had two strings rather than three. The maker of this one used modern tuners to tighten the strings. But the rest of the construction of the instrument is true to its ancient origins.