Çiftelia



The çiftelia (chiftelia) is an Albanian wooden, largely acoustic string instrument, with only two strings (in turkish, çiftelli or çiftetelli means double-stringed). It is also known by its original Asian, Turkish and Arabic names of dyzen and karadyzen. The çiftelia is commonly used by Albanian folk musicians as well as other modern musicians and is played by Albanians at weddings, concerts and other occasions.

The size and scale length of çiftelias may differ. The çiftelia is often tuned to the pitch of the two highest strings on the guitar; E and B. Usually the lower string is played as a drone, with the melody played on the higher string. The çiftelia is a fretted instrument, having seven frets to one diatonic octave.