Dombra

Dombra is Kazakh national musical stringed instrument. There are 13 instruments in the funds of Akmola Regional History and Local Lore Museum, 6 of which are represented in the expositions of the halls. Each dombra is interesting in its own way and has its own sound and history.

Dombyra of the family of poet Karsak Kopabaev, for example, was given to our museum in June 2011 when the historical and ethnographical expedition of the museum visited aul Dalabai of Zharkai district. It is made of wood, pear-shaped body glued from curved fan-shaped thin lacquered plates. The upper flat plate has a small hole and fragments of ornamentation of dark and light shades of wood. The lid of the body has two fragments of ornamentation in red paint, with names scratched out in large letters. Dombra donated to the museum by the son of famous akyn Sagynbek Karsakov, born in 1937 and his wife Smagulova Roza Kozhakhmetkyzy, born in 1938. The school museum is named after Karsak Kopabaev (1882-1974. In difficult times his songs inspired people and helped them to survive. (See the legend in Kazakh).

And here is the first dombra, which is represented in the exposition of the Hall of Ethnography, section "Attributes of sal and sery". Unfortunately, no information about it survived. It is known only that it was given to the museum in November 1951.

Interesting from ethnographic point of view for local historians and just for the general public is a specimen of dombra, submitted to the museum in 2003 by Salima Nurgozhinovna Sansyzbayeva, a resident of Kokshetau. Unlike the usual two-stringed dombra, this instrument has four strings. The dombra is made of wood and the upper and lower sounding boards are of plywood.

The body is oval-shaped, from it opens two fingerboards with fixed fret and 4 strings. The first fingerboard is longer and has 18 fretted fretts, the second has 17 fretts. On the face of the dombra are engraved "koshkar muiiz" patterns and on the edge of the soundboard are "irek" patterns. There is a dedicatory inscription on the dombra "Dinara kayin, inilerine. Toka, Yerzhan". This dombra was made by the son-in-law of Sansyzbayeva Salima - Kusainov Nurlan who lived in Taraz. Kusainov Nurlan is a private entrepreneur, woodcarver, engaged in the manufacture of wooden objects and musical instruments.

The following dombra copies of instruments of famous poets - Akan-seri, Birzhan-sala and Ybyrai are of particular interest. The names of these akyns are well known not only in Kazakhstan but also far beyond its borders.

Birzhan-sal dombra, so-called two-string "tumar dombyra" has flat form, body -keude (shanak) is made of European maple and sounding board (cover - kakpak) is made of Tianshan spruce. The head of the dombra is voluminous, in the form of a rectangle with two ears for twisting the strings.

The dombra, so-called "asyk bass dombyra" is two-stringed, the base is rectangular, rounded in the center and narrowed at the junction with the fingerboard. The body of the dombra is flat and made of European maple. The head of the dombra "asyk bass" is shaped like an asyk. The soundboard is made of Tianshan spruce and is nailed to the body with wooden nails.

The Akan -Seri dombyra is also made of European maple and Tianshan spruce. The base of the body is rectangular, slightly rounded and extended to the center, smoothly narrowed at the junction with the fingerboard. All these musical instruments were made by masters of IE "Sarsenbayev S.S." by order for a new exposition of the museum in 2012. The founder of IE is Sarsenbayev Kaysenbayev Saparbekovich, 1962 year of birth, a native of Amangeldy aul Balkashi district (now aul Zhylandy of Sandyktau district) Akmola region. Graduated from the Kokshetau Musical College named after Birzhan-ala.

After graduating from the Kokshetau Music College named after Birzhan-sala, department of Kazakh musical instruments, and then from the Republican Conservatoire named after Kurman-khazy in Almaty. He graduated from the Kurmanagazy Republican Conservatory in Almaty in the class of dombra. His grandfather, Kairly Karabdoll was a well-known master in making dombra and boots, saddles and harness. Since childhood he was fond of dombra, and tried to whittle something detailed himself. Once, when Manarbek Bekseitov, a well - known singer and composer, who worked as a director of Kokshetau musical school, came to visit him, his father asked him to test his son's abilities. That was when Kairly left for Kokshetau. During his study in Almaty Professor M.Aubakirov, on his student's request, introduced him to the master Musa Adilev. The famous master taught Kairly all the wisdoms of making dombra and K. S. Sarsenbayev believes that 1982 was the year he began making dombra. He organized a workshop on Kazakh folk instruments manufacturing since 1992, and for today this workshop is the only one of its kind in the northern region. At present the workshop makes different kinds of orchestral, bass instruments, 7 kinds of dombra, kobyz, kyl kobyz, sherter, sazsyrnay, sybyzgy, asatayak and others. Kairly Sarsenbayev himself and his studio are prize-winners of many contests.

K. Kalkatayev's two-stringed dombra, a Kazakh folk two-stringed plucked musical instrument, was transferred to the funds of AOIKM in 2020. Kumarbek Kalkataev - the honored worker of RK, actor, poet, composer, was born in Zhylytau village of the East Kazakhstan region. In 1963 year. The actor of Akmolinsk regional Kazakh musical-drama theater named after Shakhmet Husajinov, a virtuoso dombrist, a wonderful performer of Sary-Arka folk tunes. K. Kalkataev is a laureate of the national festivals "Ata-mura" and "Shanyrak-2010". The song "Ahau, Elim" on the verses of K.Kalkataev was awarded "Grand Prix" at the international song festivals "Shabyt", "Zhas kanat" in Astana, "Slavic Bazaar" in Montenegro, also at regional and republican musical contests.

There is a dombra in the funds of our museum, made specially for the exhibition "Ethnoaul", dedicated to the 5th anniversary of Astana. It was made by workers of "Khanym" LTD of Astana Ongarbayev Kuanysh and Abdikarimov Duman. Then it was presented to the museum.