Tarhu

The tarhu (also spelled tarhou) is a type of string instrument invented by Australian musician and craftsman Peter Biffin during the 1980s. The tarhu has a long slender neck made of Blackwood, a small round body also made of Blackwood,and four strings about the length of 80 cm It is a flexible instrument that can be played in both plucked and bowed styles derived from both eastern and western cultures.

History and Development

The first tarhu was created in 1984 and was called the yayli tanbur, very similar to the Turkish tanbur, having six strings, a long neck and small round wooden body. From this prototype, Biffin then went on to construct 18 different models, one even inspired the physical attributes of a cello. It would eventually become the bespoke tarhu instruments championed today by such musicians as Ross Daly and Israeli cellist Rali Margalit. The most recent model of the tarhu was created in 2009. The design of the tarhu is influenced by ancient and modern stringed instruments from both eastern and western traditions such as the Turkish tanbur, the Chinese erhu, the north Indian vina, or vin, the Persian kamancha, the middle-eastern duduk, and the double bass.

Characteristics

With Islamic architecture and the shell of a sea urchin as the primary inspiration for the frame of the tarhu, it incorporates carving within the main wooden body of the instrument to resemble those features The design creates extremely sensitive instruments with an unprecedented range of sound for long-necked stringed instruments. The efficiency of the cone system gives these instruments a very large dynamic range, and one can create a diversity of different sound. The long-neck is suitable for styles from East and West, using either bow, several different forms of plectra or fingerstyle. The use of 4 strings facilitates playing across the strings (similar to the string-crossing techniques in the violin family), and extends the range of easily available notes to nearly 4½ octaves.