Kyl-Kobyz is a kind of two-stringed viola, strings are made of horsehair and played with a bow. The two-stringed folk instrument kyl-kobyz was considered to belong only to shamans in ancient times. 

Today, Masters of Kazakhstan has been doing great work to improve the kyl-kobyz and it has become possible to use this instrument in an orchestra, where kyl-kobyz is often assigned a solo part, due to the fact that the sound of modern kyl-kobyz is cast with a soft, expressive, noble timbre.

The sound of the strings is very close in timbre and emotionally expressive qualities to the human voice.