The Khutang (literally translated to "swan", also called Ostyak harp, Kiotang, Sotang,[1] Shotang[2])[3] is a type of harp played by the Khanty and Mansi people of Siberia. The Khutang and the Nares-jux lyre are the only two indigenous string instruments of Northern Siberia. The Khutang is bow-shaped and often surmounted by a carven animal head, which is often a swan. It is generally described as having between nine and thirteen strings.[4]

The Mansi also referred to the instrument as Taryghsyp Yiv (meaning "wooden crane-neck").[5]

A similar swan-shaped and two-stringed harp is played by the Narym Selkup people of Siberia, which may have been based on the Ostyak Harp.[6]

References

  1. ^ Folk harp journal. 1 January 1981. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  2. ^ Sibyl Marcuse (April 1975). A survey of musical instruments. Harper & Row. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-06-012776-3. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  3. ^ Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer (1 November 1999). The Tenacity of Ethnicity: A Siberian Saga in Global Perspective. Princeton University Press. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-691-00673-4. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  4. ^ Robert Auty; Arthur Thomas Hatto (31 December 1980). Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry: The traditions. Modern Humanities Research Association. ISBN 978-0-900547-72-0. Retrieved 18 May 2012. - of instrument unknown elsewhere in Western Siberia ; one was a five-stringed lyre with a body shaped like a fish, and the other a swan-necked harp with nine or thirteen strings.
  5. ^ Mare Kõiva; Kai Vassiljeva; Eesti Keele Instituut; Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi nimeline Kirjandusmuuseum (1995). Folk belief today. Estonian Academy of Sciences, Institute of the Estonian Language & Estonian Museum of Literature. p. 452. ISBN 978-9985-851-11-1. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  6. ^ Péter Hajdú (1975). Finno-Ugrian languages and peoples. Deutsch. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-233-96552-9. Retrieved 17 May 2012.


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