Just a simple two-stringed instrument, I thought when I first saw the Kazakh dombra. Why all the fuss? It was a while before I found that Kazakhstan’s most famous poet, Abai Qunanbaiuly, had re-popularized the instrument. The earliest mention of the dombra was perhaps from the 12th century CE, which justified my first impression that this was such a simple instrument that it was probably used by wandering poets and minstrels, something like the bauls of eastern India, who used an ektara (a single stringed instrument). The wikipedia article on the dombra points to similar instruments across central and west Asia, and conflates it with the Persian dutar. An article I found from Pakistan conflates it with tambura, and relates it to the modern tanpura, a four stringed drone used in Indian classical music. All of this could not possibly be true.
My curiosity was piqued again when I found that modern Kazakh nationalism, still in the process of building, has incorporated the instrument as a symbol of its culture. In fact, talent-spotting programs on TV now feature acts with this instrument, so it is fast becoming part of the pop landscape here. A show at a fancy restaurant at dinner featured the dombra (see above) apart from other Kazakh props like a steppe eagle. I think an act like that is kinder on the dombra than on the eagle.
One major difference between the dutar and the dombra is that the latter has frets. The body is round at the back and flat in front, with a round and rather small soundhole. The neck is made of staves joined together, and has a flat tuning head which is turned back a little. The two strings are a single piece which loops around a little peg at the bottom of the body. I saw that mostly one string is plucked with the fingers, and the thumb is usually used for the second second. It is neither the ektara, nor the dutar, and certainly not the tanpura. With so many stringed instruments spread across Asia, it is useful to note their differences before trying to make amateur judgements of their historical evolution and connection to each other.
Don't hold your breath 
