The long necked lute’s eternal return: Mythology, morphology, iconography of the Tanbūr Lute family from Ancient Mesopotamia to Ottoman Albania
Journal: ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University)
Year: 2019

Musical instruments exist as both material and imaginal cultural objects. This Thesis&#13;\nexplores the intersection of these modes of being as pertaining to long necked lutes of&#13;\nthe tanbūr type and asks, what effect do cultural intangibles like mythology and&#13;\ncosmology have on the physical design of these lutes? I have incorporated the&#13;\nbiological theory of phylogenetics, to define the material aspects of the tanbūr family&#13;\nand its genera, and the philosophical theory of t