Tambour Instrument

- This instrument is known as the tambour, tanbour, talmour, tamira, and tamoura.

- It is made of berry tree wood.

- It belongs to the family of stringed instruments played with the fingertips - four fingers and sometimes five fingers.

(It is played with the tips of the fingers and nails instead of the plectrum).

- In different Kurdish regions, it is seen in several different sizes and shapes, which generally include three main styles:

- Tamira of Yarsan Religion (Kermashan)

- Tamira of Yazidi Religion (Mosul)

- Tamira of Alawi Religion (Dersim)

The Tamira instrument consists of the following parts:

- Bowl (sound box), instrument top (body), neck, frets, strings, bridge pins, pegs/tuners, bridge

- Bowl (sound box)

- The bowl is oval, larger than the Setar bowl. It is made of berry tree wood.

- The bowl is two to four millimeters thick and thirty-seven centimeters long.

- Instrument top (body)

- The top of the instrument or plate is made of berry tree wood and the front side affects the sound of the strings and the sound of the instrument in general.

- The thickness of the front or plate is one and a half millimeters.

_ Neck

- Neck is made of strong wood such as walnuts, apricots, and pear. Old walnut trees are the best.

- The neck is fifty-nine centimeters long, with frets and tuners on it.

- The neck is finally thinned, cleaned, and smoothed. To make it easier for the player's hand to move on the neck, it is folded underneath and the top is smoothed.

- Frets

- Frets are made from animal gut. Today, nylon threads are also used.

- The frets are attached at different points of the neck and have their place.

- From the bottom of the neck, where the neck is attached to the bowl, to the top of the neck, where the tuners are attached, the frets are attached at different points.

- Strings

- The string is made of metal wire. One end is attached to the bridge pins and the other end is bent and attached to the tuners.

- The distance between the strings should be 1.5 mm. The tambours in the eastern part of Kurdistan have three strings. In general, tambours have two and three strings.

Three-wire tambour

_ Bridge pins

- A bridge is made of metal, bone, plastic, or horn that is placed on the back of the tambour sound box to hold and protect the strings.

_ Tuners (pegs)

- Tuners are made of strong wood.

- The neck is drilled at the top and the tuners are held. Adjusting, tightening, and loosening the strings of the tambour is done by the tuners.

- Bridge

- There are two types of bridges in the tambour. One is on the top of the bowl, that is, on the plate of the bowl and the strings are placed on it, and the other is at the end of the neck.

- The upper bridge of the bowl is made of hardwood such as Buxus and apricot.

- The strings pass over the two bridges and are then attached to the tuners.

In total, the tambour and its neck are ninety-six centimeters long.