National standards for four sizes of the kamancha family, developed by the AZSTAND-44 Technical Committee, have been officially approved.
This was reported to elchi by the Ministry of Culture.
The approved standards define the dimensions, structural features, and production parameters of the kamancha instrument based on unified technical norms for the first time in Azerbaijan.
In order to develop unified standards for national musical instruments, the AZSTAND-44 Technical Committee was established in 2023 through the joint initiative of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan Standardization Institute. A two-year Action Plan regulating the committee’s activities was approved in 2024, and the process of developing national standards is currently continuing consistently in accordance with the plan.
The draft standards prepared for the four sizes of the kamancha family were presented to the members of the Technical Committee at the beginning of the current year; expert opinions on the drafts were collected and summarized, and it was decided to conduct an expert evaluation of the prepared instrument samples.
During the expert meetings held at the Azerbaijan National Conservatory on May 26 and June 25, 2026, committee members evaluated the compliance of the prepared kamancha samples with the draft standards. Based on the results of the expertise and voting, it was confirmed that the instruments fully comply with the established technical parameters.
On June 29, 2026, the next meeting of the AZSTAND-44 Technical Committee was held. At the meeting attended by committee members, the draft national standards prepared for the kamancha family were adopted by official vote. Thus, the first legal-normative basis for the standardization of national musical instruments in Azerbaijan has been formed.
The draft standards were prepared by specialists from the Musical Instruments Laboratory operating under the Azerbaijan National Conservatory. Within the framework of the research process, measurements were taken on more than 150 kamancha samples, structural indicators and proportions were determined, and unified standard parameters were formed based on statistical analyses. This methodology ensures both the scientific validity and the practical application possibilities of the prepared standards.