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Traditional/Local Music The Concept of Traditional Music: This is generally music that is created in a common manner, has continued from the time of its production right down to the present day, is popular and frequently played and recited in its region and by local people, and is usually anonymous. In Turkey, music that conforms to the above definition, which is produced by and located in a settled culture and which has thereby become traditional, can be classified as either ‘religious’ or ‘secular.’ These can also be considered under the headings ‘Folk/Local Music’ and ‘Ottoman Music.’ These two groups have many features in common, and can be classified as either "instrumental" or "with lyrics". Traditional/Local Musical Instruments Cordophones (stringed instruments) The sound from these instruments is produced by the vibration of the strings. These may be classified into two groups: Bowed stringed instruments: For example: The kemençe (small violin played like a cello), Kabak Kemane (ıklığ) (three-stringed violin), violin etc. Plucked stringed instruments: For example: Ud (lute), tambur (like a mandolin), çeng (primitive harp), tar, kanun (like a zither), santur (dulcimer), kopuz (like a lute), the bağlama family (with three double strings and two necks) – meydan sazı (largest of the saz family), court saz, bozuk (nine stringed lute), tambura, cura, üçtelli (three-string), onikitelli (twelve-string), çarta, ırızva etc. Aerophones (Wind instruments) Instruments whose sound comes from the vibration of the air in or around them. For example: Zurna (like an oboe), çifte, mey (small oboe from eastern Anatolia), kaval (flageolet), sipsi (şile a boatswain’s pipe), çığırtma (small fife), tulum (bagpipe), harmonica, accordeon, mouth organ etc. Membranophones (Skinned ınstruments) Instruments that produce their sound from the striking of a skin. For example: Dümbelek (small drum) (deblek, darbuka (drum made by stretching a skin over a clay cylinder)), davul (drum), daire (tambourine), def (tambourine with cymbals), kudüm (small double drum), zilli def (stringed def) etc. Ideophones (Instruments that strike their own bodies) These are instruments played by means of striking, beating, waving etc. And are usually made of hard materials, giving off sound by the vibration of their entire bodies. For example: Zil (cymbal), maşa (fork), çalpara (castinets), şakşak (the spoons), çan (bell), çengizli (cymbalet), band bells etc Bağlama
This is the most common stringed instrument in Turkey. It is known as bağlama, meydan sazı, divan sazı (court saz), bozuk, tambura, cura, üçtelli (three-string), onikitelli (twelve-string), çarta, ırızva, cöğür etc. depending on its size and region. The smallest of the bağlama family, and that with the highest pitch, is the cura. Slightly larger and an octave lower is the tambura. The lowest pitch in the bağlama family comes from the divan sazı, which is an octave lower than the tambura. The bağlama consists of three sections; Table, chest and stem. The table section is generally made of mulberry wood, the chest from spruce, and the stem from beech, white beech or fir. On that part of the stem furthest from the table is a part called the peg, to which the strings are attached. These pegs are used for tuning the instrument. There are frets on the stem tied with fishing line. The bağlama is played with a plectrum made of cherry bark or plastic, and in some regions with the fingers. That mode is playing is called ‘şelpe.’ These string groups can be tuned in different ways. One method consists of tuning the bottom group to La, the middle group to Re, and the top group to Mi. There are a number of other alternatives (Kara, misket, müstezat, abdal, rast etc.). Tar
This is a Turkish folk instrument played with a plectrum, and is most popular in the Kars region of Turkey. It ‘s also known to be w’dely employed ‘n Azerbayjan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Georgia. The table is made of two bowls of different sized, and is generally made of mulberry wood. The chest section is covered with a membrane from the heart of a bull or an ox. The stem is made of hard wood, with frets made of fishing line. There are two main groups of strings on the tar. The first group are used in playing the melody, and are arranged in three groups of two. The other group are called ‘kök’ (root) and ‘zeng,’ and are used for harmony, depending on the particular mode, and for tone enrichment. Ud
This is a large-bodied, short-stemmed stringed instrument played not only in Turkey but also in the entire Arab world, including Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, where it is known by the same name, as well as Iran and Azerbayjan. In Iran it is known as the ‘barbat.’ It is very similar to the European lute. There are almost no structural differences between the ud used in Turkey and those played elsewhere. Hoever, it must be made clear that the Arab ud tends to be slightly larger, and can have two small holes instead of one large one on the chest. These holes are invariably decorated with a single rose, whether the ud be Turkish, Arab, Iranian, Armenian or Greek. Apart from two minor changes, the ud has remained unchanged for the last 1,000 years. The body of the ud, which sits in the player’s lap, is made up of up to 20 layers of wood in the shape of a crescent. The short, flat stem is attached to the body by means of a wedge. It gets narrow as it approaches the pegs, and is some four fingers wide where it joins the body. The peg area is at 45 degrees to the stem, and forms an S shape, where the pegs are attached. All but one of the strings are double. The bottom two pairs used to be made of gut, although they are now made of fishing line. The other strings are made of silk covered with silver or copper. Each string goes over a bridge attached to the body (which is also the main bridge in the ud), and joins its own peg. The body of the ud is about 1 mm. thick, and made of straight-grained spruce. The supporting strips under the chest are known as the ‘balkon.’ The way they are set out affects the sonority of the instrument. In the old days, strings were made of cat gut, or silk covered with silver, known as ‘silver plaited strings.’ Nylon has now replaced gut. The ud used to be played with chicken and eagle feathers, and some performers used a plectrum made of hard leather or cherry bark. Plastic plectra are now preferred, however. The body of the ud is placed on the player’s lap, and squeezed from the top by the right arm, the plectrum being held in the right hand. The strings are plucked by the fingers of the left hand. Although it was popular in various periods, it took its definitive place among the instruments of Ottoman music in the second half of the 19th century. Tambur
The word tambur comes from the Arabic ‘tunbur,’ and it is widely believed that this comes from the Sumerian word ‘pantur,’ a semispherical stringed instrument with a long stem. Another view is that it comes from the words (tabla, tabl, tabıl, tabul etc.) for percussion instruments that have been used since the very earliest times. There is mention in the Hittite civilisation of a stringed instrument called a ‘TIBULA.’ It is generally agreed that this was in all probability a long-stemmed stringed instrument. Texts from those times reveal that it was used to accaompany the spoken word and dancing. All of this inevitably leads one to the opinion that the roots of the instrument go back to Hittite and Sumerian times. The word ‘tambur’ was later used in Iran and central Asia for pear-bodied long-stemmed instruments more closely resembling the bağlama. Some instruments today played by the Turks of Asia are called ‘tambura,’ or ‘dombra’ etc. Today the tambur, described by European travellers (such as Charles Fonton and Toderini) as a visible reflection of the Turkish musical system with its fret links on the stem, is probably the only instrument solely used in Turkey. The instrument was carried to Europe by migrants, and it is known that it was used in the 12th and 13th centuries before being abandoned. This instrument developed with the historical process that gave rise to Ottoman music, reaching its most developed form in the 16th century and becoming an indispensable part of that music. The body of the tambur is semispherical and made by sticking layers of wood together side by side. It generally has a diameter of up to 35 cm. The stem is joined to the body be being buried in a wedge, and is about 104 cm. long. The peg area is an extension of the stem. Each of the strings that emerge from the peforated string wedge at the edge of the body goes over the bridge and along the stem, being attached to the pegs by being tapped into the notched main bridge made of bone and the other bone bridge at the end of it. The bridge is generally made of fir, and presses onto the chest, itself generally made of thin pine. The vibration of the strings lead to that part of the chest under the bridge being indented. The bottom of the stem is round, and the top flat. The fret links used to be made of gut, although nylon is usually preferred these days. The tambur had between 45 and 55 frets. Some tambur virtuosi wanted to make the transposition of the melodic creation to several frets easier by linking 64 and even 65 of them. The oldest known form of the tambur is two-stringed, although these days it generally has seven. Eight strings were employed in the 18th and 19th centuries. The inflexible tambur plectrum is usually made of tortoiseshell. It is about 12 cm. long, 9-10 mm. wide and 1-1.5 mm. thick, and both ends can be used. However, the two ends are different to one another to allow them to be used for different timbres. The plectrum is held with the thumb and index and middle fingers of the right hand, and the thin side is used to strike the strings in a perpendicular manner. That is what gives the instrument its full-bodied sound. Apart from the kopuz, which has had its own place in courtly Ottoman music since the 16th century, the tambur is presently the only instrument to be played in this manner. Although the tambur was a plucked stringed instrument, Tamburi Cemil Bey played it with a bow instead, which immediately became very popular. In the old way of playing the instrument, the ‘steel’ and ‘copper’ strings were struck once and the melody would be produced by using as many frets as possible before the vibration faded away. That led to it being resembled to the human larynx. (kultur.gov.tr) |
This
is one, and perhaps the most important, of the stringed and plucked instruments
of Ottoman music. One view is that the tambur was an ancient development of the
‘kopuz,’ while others suggest that its own history goes back to very early times.
Yet another theory is that the tambur is the first evolution and change of the
bağlama family of instruments.