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The dutar ( Persian: دو تار , Uzbek: dutor) (also dotar or doutar) is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Central Asia and South Asia. Its name comes from the Persian word for "two strings", dotar (do "two", tar "string"), although the Herati dutar of Afghanistan has 14 strings. When played, the strings are usually plucked by the Uyghurs of Western China and strummed and plucked by the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, and Afghan people. In West Bengal and Bangladesh, the instrument is played by the baul community, and is called dotara. Some versions of the dotara have four strings instead of two. In the instrument's 15th century beginnings in the hands of shepherds, its strings were made from gut. With the coming of the Silk Road, the strings were made from twisted silk. Modern instruments also have silk or nylon strings.
The dutar has a warm, dulcet tone. Typical sizes for the pear-shaped instrument range from one to two meters.
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