The term Kemence or Kemenche (Kurdish: kemançê / Turkish: kemençe / Armenian: քամանչա - k’amanča / Laz: Ç'ilili - ჭილილი / Azerbaijani: kamança / Persian: کمانچه / Greek: κεμεντζές , λύρα) is used to describe two types of three-stringed bowed musical instruments:
1. a bottle-shaped lute, closely related to the Cappadocian Kemane, found in the Black Sea region of Asia Minor, it is also known as the "Kemenche of Laz" or Pontic kemenche and
2. a pear-shaped bowl lyre known as Classical kemenche (Turkish: Armudî kemençe), found mainly in Istanbul and the Eastern regions of Turkey and is closely related to the Byzantine lyra (Turkish: Rum Kemençesi).
Both types of kemenche are played in the downright position, either by resting it on the knee when sitting, or held in front of the player when standing. It is always played "braccio", that is, with the tuning head uppermost. The kemenche bow is called the doksar (Greek: δοξάρι), the Greek term for bow. .
