The çifteli (çiftelia, erroneously qifteli, Albanian: "doubled" or "double stringed") is a plucked string instrument, with only two strings, played mainly by the Gheg people of northern and central Albania and Kosovo.
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The çifteli is frequently used by Albanians in weddings and at concerts, as well as by many musicians, such as Nikollë Nikprelaj. It is also used to accompany Albanian epics and ballads.
Construction
Çifteli vary in size, but are most often tuned to B3 and E3 (comparable to the top two strings of a guitar, which is classically tuned as "E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4"). Usually the lower string is played as a drone, with the melody played on the higher string. The çifteli is a fretted instrument, but unlike most, it is not fretted in a chromatic scale (one fret per semitone), but rather in a diatonic scale, with seven notes to the octave.
Etymology
The term çifteli comes from the Albanian language: çift ("double"); and tel ("string"), both borrowings from Turkish.
History
The çifteli in its modern form is no longer played in Central Asia or Anatolia, but historically Turkic peoples played an instrument known as the ıklığ, also meaning "two string" (iki meaning "two" and lik "-ness").