QuoteReplyTopic: Some Middle Eastern Instruments... Posted: 22-Mar-2012 at 23:19
Oud
"...The Oud, a central instrument of Arabic music, is a stringed instrument with an ancient history. It probably
originated over 3,500 year ago in Persia, where it was called a Barbat (oud). A similar instrument is shown
in Egyptian paintings and was used in the times of the Pharaohs. The Arabic name, Al Oud, means wood and
specifically thin wood. The strings were originally made of gut, and are now often made of plastic. The moors or the
Crusaders carried the Oud to Spain, where it entered Europe as the lute ("al-ud") and was ultimately transformed into the 6
stringed fretted guitar..."
...The earliest Arab Oud musician was possibly Eben Sareeg. In the past, Arab composers wrote exclusively for Oud. It is
a solo instrument used also for Taqasim (improvisations) accompanied by song. The Oud sound box is pear shaped, and it
has a relatively short handle and no frets. The precise shape and dimensions differ throughout the Arab world, as do the
number of strings - up to six and even seven. .
Since the 9th century the musical tradition of the Mediterranean Sea was based in great part on the Oud.The heart of Oud music are the Makams. Makams are also playable on other instruments, but for Arab music, Makams are
executed on the Oud. Makams are roughly equivalent to Indian Ragas or to Western "keys," but they are more complex than
"keys" and unlike Ragas, they do not have any allegorical significance. The Makam (Turkish makam, plural
makamlar; Arabic maqam, plural maqamat) are scales or 'composition rules'. The makam names
designate an important note in the scale (i.e. Turkish Cargah, Arabic Chahargah: fourth position), or a city (i.e.
Esfahan, it is sometimes spelled as Isfahan), a landscape (i.e. Turkish Hicaz, Arabic Hijazi), a person (i.e. Kurdi) or
a poetic abstraction (i.e. Suzidil: heart glimmer)..." http://www.mideastweb.org/culture/oud.htm
Darbuka - in Bulgaria called "tarambuka' I have one, goat skin on ceramic body / if the mice didn't eat it during the last 7 years it's stored in the fabled yellow truck/
"...The darbouka (darbuka) or doumbek or tablah is an hour-glass-shaped drum popular throughout the
Middle east. The body has approximately an hour-glass shape and the skin is stretched tight with rope or leather thongs
or even nails.
The body may be made of copper, ceramic, pottery or wood. It is used a great deal in belly dancing music...." http://www.mideastweb.org/culture/darbouka.htm
"...The nay ( nai, nye, ney) is a simple, long, end-blown flute that is the main wind instrument of Middle Eastern
music and the only wind instrument in classical Arabic music. It is very ancient instrument. The nay is literally
as old as the pyramids. Ney players are seen in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and neys have
been found in the excavations at Ur in Iraq. Thus, the ney has been played continuously for 4,500-5,000 years. It is one
of the oldest musical instruments still in use...."
The nay is made of a piece of hollow cane or reed (nay is an old Persian word for reed) with five or six finger
holes. Modern nays may be made of metal. Pitch differs, depending on the region and the finger arrangement. A highly
skilled ney player can reach as many as three octaves, though it is more common to have several ney players in a
traditional orchestra to cover different ranges.
In the Arab world, the nay is sometimes called qassaba, which also means piece of reed. The nay is a favorite
instrument of the
Sufi.
Nays are keyed instruments. In the Arabic system, there are 7 nays. The
Kerdene is called a "C" instrument. That means that the second
lowest note is a C (the first being a Bb). The second is the Doga in
D. The third is the Boussalik in E. The fourth is the Jaharka for F. The
fifth is the Nawa for G; the sixth is Husseini
for A, and the seventh is the Ajam for B.
Arabic and Turkish nays has 7 holes, one of which is on the back and usually closed with the
thumb. Each hole has practically a whole tone interval capacity so that for example, if you play a D you can easily go
to D sharp with the only movement of your lips and amount of air you blow, and you may even play an E if you move
the instrument and blow more strongly. The thumb hole usually allows playing 4 notes . For the Doga (D) nay these notes
would be A, Bb, B3/4, and B....
Arabic and Turkish nays are
played the same way, putting the mouth to one end of the flute and
blowing in a somewhat oblique direction to the tube. The air bounces off
one inner side of the flute and
produces the sound, somewhat like blowing over a bottle The Iranian nay
uses the Turkoman inter-dental blowing system, adopted in the late
1700s. The modern Iranian nay differs from the Arab and Turkish Nay. It
has five or six fingerholes, instead of seven, a
different mouthpiece and a lower placement of thumbhole. The musician
uses the inter-dental method- he or she puts
the mouthpiece of the ney between the teeth and the upper jaw and
directs the air with the tongue, producing a
different sound from the Arabic-Turkish instrument. . This method can
also be used with Arabic-Turkish) nays...."
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