Yatga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The yatga (or yatag) is a traditional Mongolian plucked zither, descended from the Chinese guzheng.

Yatga may vary widely in size, tuning, and number of bridges and strings; its style depends on its purpose. The body is a long wooden box, one end of which is angled downward. The performer plucks the strings with the fingernails of the right hand; the left hand is used to put pressure on the strings, creating sound. Similar instruments include the Korean gayageum and the Japanese koto.

The most common type of yatga in contemporary use is the thirteen-stringed version. Historically, however, the twelve-stringed version was used at the royal court for symbolic reasons; the twelve strings corresponded to twelve levels of palace hierarchy.

The traditional Mongolian epic, Janggar, contains the story of a young princess who once played upon an 800-string yatga with 82 bridges; she is supposed to have only played on the seven lower bridges.

The yatga is very similar to the Tuvan yat-kha.