The rubab is a short-necked, double-chambered lute whose body is carved from mulberry wood, with goatskin stretched over the lower chamber. It has three main strings tuned in fourths, two or three long drone strings and up to fifteen sympathetic strings. Tuned to the notes of the mode being played, these extra strings ring in response to each note and give the rubab its shimmering, echoing sound.
Often called ‘the lion of instruments’, the rubab is regarded as one of Afghanistan’s national instruments. It belongs to an old family of double-chambered lutes of Central Asian origin that includes the Iranian tar and the Pamiri rubab, and it is played both in folk music and in Afghan art music rooted in the North Indian raga tradition.
That Indian link goes back to the 1860s, when Amir Sher Ali Khan brought classically trained musicians from India to his court in Kabul. The influence ran both ways: in the 19th century, Afghan rubab players at the court of Lucknow helped transform the instrument into the Indian sarod.