Tembor
stringed musical instrument
The tembor (simplified Chinese: 弹拨尔; traditional Chinese: 彈撥爾; pinyin: tánbō'ěr; Uyghur: تەمبۈر, Тембор) is a long-necked lute used in the music of Xinjiang, a diverse region of western China. Specifically, it is used by the Uyghur ethnic group.
It has five strings in three courses and is tuned A A, D, G G. The strings are made of steel and the instrument is roughly 1.5 m (59 in) long from the top of the headstock to the horn string plate at the other end. The player attaches a metal wire pick under the fingernail of the right index finger with thread. The instrument features a guard for the playing hand in the shape of a fish, and the whole instrument is, as is common with most Uyghur instruments, covered in fine marquetry in geometric designs. One of the most challenging Uyghur instruments, it is known as "the father of music". It is an important instrument in the Ili Valley, where it is used alongside the dutar and accompanies vocal performances.
See also
Sataer
References
The Stringed Instrument Database
ATLAS of Plucked Instruments
External links
Video. Uyghur musician playing a western pop song his Tembor.
“Tembor” enters the record as stringed musical instrument. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tembor, stringed and musical can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tembor” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tembor, stringed and musical provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 9, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7698037. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tembor”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tembor primary sources, Tembor archive and Tembor research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tembor”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tembor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.