RHYTHM
Darbuka
Daf
Daire
Kudüm

UD

The ud is a large-bodied, short-necked instrument belonging to the lute family. Besides Turkey, it is played in the entire Arab world including Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, as well as Iran and Armenia. In Iran, it is known as the barbat.

HISTORY: The ud is considered one of the oldest string instruments known to man. Its first ancestors are thought to have been made in Ancient Egypt (1320-1085 B.C.), because a bas-relief from that period depicts an instrument resembling the ud. This antique ud's body, like those of later uds, was likely made of a single hollowed out piece of wood, and smaller than those of modern uds. This is the instrument that the Iranians called barbat.

The word ud comes up for the first time in Arabic texts of the 7th century. But in later Iranian and Arabic texts, the terms barbat, ud and tunbur (tanbur) are used interchangeably. It is known that Fârâbî played ud, and made some changes to the instrument. The most important of these is the fifth string he added to the ud's formerly four strings, which were tuned in fourths.

The frets that had been preserved until Fârâbî's time were abandoned toward the end of the 10th century, and earlier players used a wooden plectrum. The famous Anadalusian musician (9th century) replaced this with an eagle's wing feather. Today, flexible plastic picks are generally used.

Though it was used in certain earlier periods, it was during the second half of the 19th century that the ud took a definite place among the Turkish classical instruments. Today it is played by several virtuosos in a wide variety of styles.

Most famous kanun players are Yurdal Tokcan, Necati Çelik, Bayram Coşkuner, Çinuçen Tanrıkorur

KANUN

The kanun is one of the kithara class of instruments, which besides Turkey is used in North Africa and the Middle East, Iran, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Greece. In organology, which examines and classifies musical instruments, kithara is the common designation for instruments in which the sound is produced by the vibration of taut strings arranged "openly" from short to long. The name kanun, used in Turkey, Iran and all of the Arab countries, is replaced in other countries by variations either of the Arabic or Greek counterpart.

STRUCTURE: Though the kanun has undergone several changes over the course of its long history, its basic structural features are the same in all countries in which it is played today. Its range extends up to three and one half octaves. The player uses ivory picks.

HISTORY: Nearly all organologists consider the Arabic word kanun to be a derivation of the Greek kanon. Like its name, the instrument's half-trapezoidal shape is thought to have been given by the Arabs.

The 14th century Persian treatise Kenzü't-Tuhaf contains a diagram and written description of the kanun, along with other instruments. The writer provides detailed measurements of the kanun, which he depicts in a half trapezoidal shape. According to the treatise, the instrument had sixty-four strings tuned in sets of three. In his work titled Câmî'u'l-Elhân fî 'Ilmü'l-Musiki and other treatises, the great composer, virtuoso and theoretician Abdülkadir Meragî (-1435) describes the kanun along with other instruments.

Taken to Europe by the Anadalusians around the 12th century, the kanun was known in Span as the caño, in France as the canon, in Germany as the Kanon, and in Italy as the cannale.

Coming into use in Ottoman music in the 15th century at the latest, the kanun underwent changes to its structure, and its size was sometimes increased, sometimes decreased. The kanun used in Istanbul in the 16th century can be considered identical to that used in Iran and Mesopotamia. This instrument was most likely constructed entirely of wood, with metal strings, an assumption supported by several miniatures. The kalun used today by the Uygurs is the only modern instrument resembling this kanun.

The shape of the Ottoman kanun of the 17th century is not precisely known, but it is certain that towards the middle of the 18th century, the instrument assumed a shape very near that of today's kanun. As the kanun had been abandoned in Iran during that period, we can assume that the changes leading to its present form were carried out in Turkey and the Middle East (Egypt and Syria).

Cantemir's contemporary Levnî did not illustrate the kanun in any of his miniatures. However the picture in Hizir Aga's Tefhîmü'l Makamât, estimated to have been written between 1765 and 1770, depicts a modern kanun for all intents and purposes.

In records from the reign of Sultan Selim III, no kanun players are mentioned by name. However, during the reign of Mahmud II (1808-1839), this instrument came once again onto the scene. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the kanun was one of the instruments that were played by women.

In the second half of the 19th century, the kanun was quite popular in Istanbul. A professional music ensemble without a kanun was unthinkable.

Kanun is known as piano of Turkish Music
Most famous kanun players are Hasan Ferit Alnar (Composer of Kanun Concerto), Göksel Baktagir, Vecihe Daryal, Kanuni Hacı Arif bey, Ahmet Yatman, Ruhi Ayangil, Tahir Aydoğdu, Göksel Kartal, Erol Deran, Halil Karaduman, Ahmet Meter, Taner Sayacıoğlu.

REBAB

The rebab is classified in organology as a representative of the "spike fiddle" family of instruments. The word kemânçe is derived from a Persian word meaning "small bow," but is used mostly in the sense of "small bowed instrument." The old Iranian kemânçe, like many other elements of Iranian music, entered Islamic music from the very beginning. Its cut spherical body was generally constructed of coconut shell, and its face was either of sheatfish (Silurus glanis) or ox pericardium, and it included both two- and three-stringed variants.

The only bowed instrument used in Turkish music up until the 18th century, was very popular in religious-mystic music as well as in secular music. In the Mevlevî lodges, where it was used under the name "rebab," a sort of holiness was even attributed to the kemânçe. Upon the arrival and enthusiastic adoption of the viola d'amore from Europe in the second half of the 18th century, the kemânçe fell from favor in secular music and was abandoned, surviving only in the Mevlevî lodges. Its old name of kemân or kemânçe was even forgotten, and in time the name rebab used among the Mevlevîs came to be considered its only name in all periods and circles. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Mevlevî musicians attempted to bring the rebab back into use, but without success.

KEMENÇE

Kemençe is the common name for two very different instruments, one used in north Anatolian folk music, and the other in Turkish classical music. Names such as "pear-shaped kemençe" and "fasil kemençe" used until the mid-19th century eventually gave way to "classical kemençe."

STRUCTURE: The classical kemençe is 40-41 centimeters in length and 14-15 centimeters wide. All its strings are of gut; only the yegâh string is silver-wound. Today some musicians use synthetic racquet strings, aluminum-wound gut or artificial silk strings, or chrome-wound steel violin strings. The sound post, which transmits the strings' vibration to the back of the instrument, is fixed between the bridge and back of the instrument under the neva string. A small hole, 3-4 mm in diameter, is drilled in the back of the instrument directly under the bridge.

One can safely say that the kemençe is the most-adorned of the Turkish instruments.

HISTORY: Until the 19th century, the Persian-derived word kemençe, meaning "small bow" or "small bowed instrument," was used for the spike fiddle known today as rebab. Also called kemân, the kemânçe was the only bowed instrument used in Turkish classical music until the late 18th century. The kemânçe gave way first to the viola d'amore and later to the European violin. The pear-shaped kemençe first entered the fasil ensemble in the mid-19th century.

Before the pear-shaped kemençe entered the fasil ensemble, it was known by the Greek word lira (consequently the instrument, which has in recent years become very popular in Greece, is known as politiki lira, meaning "city lira," i.e. "Istanbul lira").

Tanburî Cemil Bey (1873-1916), who learned the instrument from Vasil and quickly became a virtuoso, transformed it into a sine qua non instrument of the fasil ensemble. In this way the kemençe, which was until a century ago played in meyhanes and taverns, had before the middle of the 20th century come to be considered, along with the tanbur and ney, one of the most "genuine" instruments of Turkish music. The fact that the kemençe's sound was much more suited to Turkish music, which in the beginning of the 20th century had taken on an extremely emotional and melancholy character, doubtless played a role in this.

In the polyphonic Turkish music he devised, reformist Hüseyin Sadettin Arel (1880-1955) planned to give the central role to a five-member "kemençe family" he had designed in 1933. This was comprised of five different prototypes, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass, each with four strings of equalized length. He composed pieces especially for this new family of instruments, but before long they were abandoned. Cüneyt Orhon, one of the instructors in the Istanbul State Turkish Music Conservatory which opened in 1976, preferred to teach Arel's soprano kemençe, which was tuned like the violin. Today, the traditional three-stringed kemençe and the four-stringed kemençe are taught separately in that institution.

TANBUR

The tanbur is the most important plucked stringed instrument of Turkish classical music. The word, a form of the Arabic word "tunbur," is generally considered to derive from the Sumerian word "pantur," which was the name for a long-necked string instrument with a half-spherical body. The word later came to be used in Iran and Central Asia for a group of long-necked instruments with pear-shaped bodies, which more resembled today's baglama. Similar instruments still played by the Turkic peoples of Asia are called by names such as tanbura and dombra.

The tanbur's body is a half-sphere up to 35 centimeters in diameter, constructed of staves glued together. The tied frets were originally made of twisted gut, but today, with the exception of Necdet Yasar, almost all tanbur players use frets of nylon monofilament. The number of frets ranges from 45-55. Modern tanburs generally have seven strings, but tanburs of the18th and 19th centuries had eight strings. In recent years, some players have had eight-string tanburs constructed.

LAVTA

Today, it seems that there is no culture on the earth that does not use at least one instrument in the lute family. The oldest lutes in history belong to the ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian civilizations. (The Turkish word lavta is derived from the Greek laouto/lagouto, a corruption of the Arabic el `ud. In some Turkish texts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the word appears as laguta.)

The most important difference between the lavta and the ud is the presence of frets like those of the tanbur on its neck. Originally made of gut tied onto the neck, the frets are today made of monofilament. As in the tanbur, the number of frets on present-day instruments has increased over that of their forbearers.

The body of the lavta, as of the ud, is constructed of thin staves glued side-by-side. The face is made of reinforced spruce, with a single large sound hole.

The lavta constitutes an intermediate between the ud and the tanbur both in terms of structure and of tone. Before the 19th century, the lavta, along with the kemençe and the tef (tambourine), comprised the kaba saz (vulgar instrument) ensemble that accompanied köçekçe dancers (male dancers who dressed as females). Here it provided a rhythmic accompaniment for the kemençe, which carried the melody. Towards the end of the 19th century however, it entered the ince saz (fine/delicate instrument) ensemble, composed of instruments like the tanbur, violin, ud, kanun and ney. Certain picking styles were developed according to the different usuls (rhythmic patterns). Becoming a sought-after instrument especially in the ensembles performing in nightclubs and cafes with live music, the lavta was played mostly by Greek musicians.

One of our last great virtuosos on the lavta, Tanburî Cemil Bey (1873-1916) played a major role in its transformation from a mainly rhythmic instrument into a melodic instrument. Special picking patterns unique to the lavta, which were adopted by ud players as well, were forgotten after Yorgo Bacanos (1900-1977), who was the last representative of this tradition. During the mid 1980s, the lavta again began to be included in some radio and television programs.

VIOLIN

There has been a string playing tradition in Turkish Music, long before the violin was brought in to the Ottoman Empire. The most used string instruments were; the Iklig, Gicek, Ki-yak, Kopuz and Kemence. In the late centuries only the Kemence became the main instrument. Like the kemence; Iklig, Gicek, Kiyak and bowed Kopuz was also played on the knee.

The kemençe consists of two words in Persian. Keman and Ce: Keman means violin and ce is small, then we can con-sider the Kemence as a small violin and it held the place of the violin in classical Turkish Music. The Kemençe has three strings and tuned in fourths and fifths. However there is an-other type of Kemence, which has four strings. This had been used by Kemenceci Vasilaki for the first time. Huseyin Saad-eddin Arel re-used the four stringed kemence as an alternative to the western violin and tuned it as same as violin which in-creases the possibilities of the instrument. But when the west-ern violin entered in to the classical Turkish Music, it was ri-valled by the kemence. Therefore there are stylistic differ-ences between the two instruments and must not be compared with each other because the kemence has a different playing technique and style. Some of the violin players of the late century has imitated the style of kemence in violin playing and established a kind of different violin sound.

Keman is a very old Persian word. It was used for the violin in Istanbul for the first time. The stem of word Keman in Per-sian is: Hemiden which means bowing or bending. In all western languages the meaning of the word Bow is the same as in Turkish: Yay. Bow means ok in Turkish. There is an instrument called Iklig in Anatolia.. The bow of Iklig was also called keman and the performer ke-manci in Anatolian Turkish. Today, keman refers to the European violin. But two centuries ago keman was not the same instrument which we know as an European violin. The old keman is called the Rebab today.

Before the violin was brought in to Turkey, the Sinekeman occupied the place of the violin. Rauf Yekta Bey suggests that Sinekeman together with the Ney and the Tambur estab-lished an excellent trio in the peak time of the Turkish Music at the time of the Sultan Selim III. Rauf Yekta suggests some claims such as Sinekeman being brought in to Turkey by Miron, a Moldavian violinist during the time of Sultan Selim III (1789-1807). But Sinekeman was played long be-fore 1789. Toderini who lived in Istanbul between 1781 till 1786 suggests that Sinekeman was already common among the Turks. Although Sinekeman is not a Turkish instrument, Rauf Yekta suggests that we do not know the exact date of the first time it was used. There was already a tradition of violin playing among the non-muslim musicians such as Ke-mani Yorgi Aga, Kemani Anastasios and Kemani Stefano.

Probably the oldest examples of the violins were found in cities such as, Istanbul and Trabzon as a result of being in commercial contact with Latin countries. Rauf Yekta Bey suggested that the violin was brought in to the Ottoman Em-pire from Austria- Hungary via Serbia and the Balkans. But It is not known exactly when the violin appeared in the Otto-man Empire. Although it did not appear in Turkish Music immediately, it was common among the people and in the Kahvehane-s (Cafe or Tea rooms). But it was Yorgi, a fa-mous violinist who introduced the modern violin to the bour-geoisie. Sixteen years after Fonton, another westerner Blain-ville mentioned Yorgi as the violinist of the Sultan. Aksoy claims that an older document than Fonton and Blainville ex-ists, which is the picture of ‘’Turkish Musicians playing the violin’ by a Swiss painter called Liotard. But the oldest document is Paralleles des Ancients et des Modernes a book by Perrault. Perrault mentioned an Iranian violinist who played the violin in the French ambassador’s residence in Is-tanbul. But we do not know if the violin was a western type or eastern.


The violin took its place in Turkish Music even in the Der-vishes convent. It was also used to perform in groups at the palace. The number of violins in these groups increased gradually. One of the writers of the 19th Century says (Ozalp Derleme)
‘...There were cafe’s in different places of Istanbul that were like concert halls. In those places occasionally performers such as the kemençe players Vasilaki, the violinists Tatyos, Memduh and Tanburi Ovakim.... who were well known, would give concerts on Fridays and Sundays. in day time and at night. Towards the end of the 19th Century these cafes were called Semai Cafes. The mu-sic which was performed in those places had different motives from Turkish Folk Music and classical Turkish Music. At the same time, performing in casinos became a profes-sion. The most magnificent month for these places was the Ramadan. People who wanted to listen to Poem and Music recitals used to visit these places..’

TUNING:
Players did not use the western tuning system although they changed the chanterelle to one tone lower. When we look at the past, before the violin and Sinekeman were used, the first strings of the Kemence and the Rebab were tuned to D. When the keman first appeared in Istanbul the tuning did not suit the players and they changed the first string to one tone lower which nowadays is still the case, although some Turk-ish Music players use the international tuning system today. Another opinion is that, before they were met with the mod-ern violin, they were using the Sinekeman and the first string of it, was tuned to D. When the violin was introduced, they had some difficulty to play it with the chanterelle E and they changed it into D.
I have heard personally the following opinion from a famous Kemence player Cuneyd Orhon. He said that some of the makams in Turkish Music are very difficult to perform on the violin. These makams in the high pitches have got critical in-tervals especially on Gerdaniye (D) Therefore it was easier to play with them on the open string and they usually played with the same tuning.

The violin entered and being used in Turkey as a result of the entrance of western tradition and music. We find out that, earliest relationship between Turkish and Western Music has started in the 16th Century. François I, then the king of France, had sent an ensemble to the Suleyman II as early as 1543. Elizabeth I had also sent an organ as a present to the Sultan Murat III in 1599. But the real occupation of the western music started in 1826. When the Sultan Mahmut II abandoned the old Jannisary army, he founded a modern army called Nizam-_ Cedid. Therefore the old mehter band as a part of the old military tradition was also disbanded, a new western style brass team was established. In two years time (1828) Giuseppe Donizetti was invited and he founded the first western style military band. The band became the Sultan’s Music Ensemble so called Muzika-i Humayun. Support for western Music increased. Opera and Theatre companies appeared and there were performances at the Pal-ace in Istanbul that was then the capital of the Ottoman Em-pire. Great virtuosos came from Europe to give concerts, in-cluding Franz Liszt and Henry Vieuxtemps. Mesut Cemil Tel who is the son of Tamburi Cemil Bey, writes in his book called ‘Tanburi Cemil Bey’ in Hayati’,
‘...When Vieuxtemps visited Istanbul, Tan-buri Cemil Bey played for him. Vieuxtemps was impressed with his playing and marvel-lous bow technique. REFERENCE

Even violinists such as Wieniawsky composed works influ-enced by Turkish Music. The best example is his Oriental Fantasy for violin and piano Op.24.

SANTUR

The santur belongs to the group of instruments known in organology as "hammered kitharas." The ancient Greek word kithara is the common name given to instruments with multiple strings arranged parallel to the sound board, in which each string gives a fixed tone. The resonator of kitharas generally consists of a box of which the face and back are parallel. The kanun, for example, is a plucked kithara.

The ancient Assyrians and Egyptians are known to have had a harp-type instrument, sometimes held horizontally, the strings of which were struck by sticks. Even if this is not a santur, it is the idea that gave rise to it. Chronologically, the plucked kitharas predate the struck kitharas. The first santurs are believed to have been played in ancient Mesopotamia. They were predecessors of today's kanun, played with mallets instead of plectra. Strings of instruments in the santur group are arranged and tuned in groups of three, four or five.

We have no absolute knowledge concerning the construction of either the old Iranian or old Ottoman santur. The santur played in Iran today is quite different from the Ottoman santur of the 19th century, which does not resemble any other santur that has survived to our day. None of the very few 19th century Ottoman santurs extant today resemble each other in terms of dimensions and number of strings

SEHRUD

The sehrud is classified as a "short-necked lute." The word sehrud is of Persian origin, derived from the words sah-i rûd meaning "king of lutes/large lute." Though Fârâbî (-950) included an illustration of the sehrud in his Kitâbü'l Musiki, it is very difficult to determine particulars from this drawing. But it must be noted that this old sehrud is completely different from the large ud often encountered in Iranian miniatures of a few centuries later. Thus it is clear that this old name changed in meaning, being applied to a new and different instrument. One of the most-illustrated instruments in Iranian and Ottoman miniatures, the sehrud was generally drawn overly large. From this standpoint, the miniatures were obviously not realistic. In some miniatures, it is difficult to say whether the instrument depicted is an ud or a sehrud.

There is no obvious difference in design between Iranian and Ottoman sehruds. However, it can be determined from miniatures that Iran it was played with the neck horizontal, while the Ottomans played it with the neck elevated.

ÇENG

The çeng belongs to the family of instruments known in organology as "open harps," which are further divided into the "bow harps" and the "square harps." The çeng is in the latter groups.

Of the square harps used for 2,500 years in not only the Middle East but in Central Asia and the Far East as well, the Ottoman çeng was the last to fall into disuse.

The father of the Ottoman çeng, which in Ottoman poetry was a metaphor for one in love doubled over in agony from a lover's cruelty, was the Iranian çeng. But in Istanbul, the instrument gained certain features. Writers such as Safiyüddin Urmevî (-1294) and Abdülkadir Meragî (1350-60-1435) gave detailed information on the çeng. The Persian manuscript, Kenzü't-Tuhaf, written in the 14th century, gives a good deal of information on the çeng. But the poetical work of the 15th century poet Ahmed-i Dâî titled Çengname put the çeng in a very privileged place among the other Ottoman instruments. This was because no such work had ever been written - poetically or prosaically - about any other Ottoman instrument. Besides the "market paintings," which were made by folk painters outside the palace for European travelers, most of which are to day in European museums, there are many miniatures depicting the çeng along with other instruments, in albums such as the Sehinsahname, the Süleymanname, the Album of Ahmed I and the Surnâme-i Hümâyûn. A careful examination of these reveals the following:

1. The çeng was played by both men and women.
2. Miniatures depicting the çeng show it accompanying talks by poets and learned men than on the stage.
3. Though it is difficult to speak of a standard size of çeng, it becomes clear that there were two sizes of the instrument. The first, the "kucak çengi" (lap çeng) was small and played indoors, seated. The second was the "açık hava çengi", which was quite large and played standing up. The kucak çengi was played with the pegboard on the player's left knee; the açık hava çengi rested on a long foot that went between the player's legs, and tied around the waist by a belt attached to the lower part of its body (that is, the resonator).
4. The çeng's resonator was constructed in two ways, either curved or straight. While the curved resonator is encountered in Iranian, Arab, Uygur, Chinese and even Japanese miniatures, the straight resonator appears only in Ottoman miniatures.

Possibly, when the Ottomans adopted the çeng that came from Iran, another closed harp descended from the Phoenician harp was in use in the Byzantine period. After the Iranian-derived Ottoman çeng was abandoned, the above mentioned triangular harp was in use in Istanbul, especially in some homes in the Pera district. The fact that in miniatures this instrument, which we can claim was never played in the palace, is shown in the hands of women in palace attire, is not difficult to explain. The market painters were not like the palace artists, who were closely familiar with palace life. For this reason, elements of palace life were mixed with those of outside life.

NEY

The ney is the principal wind instrument in Turkish classical music. The term is derived from the Persian nay, "reed." There are seven finger holes, six on the front of the instrument, and one on the back. A mouthpiece, generally made of buffalo horn, called baspare, is attached to the blown end. Silver rings called parazvane are attached to either end of the instrument to prevent cracking. The lowest tones are called the "dem" (breath) tones. The semitones unique to classical Turkish music are achieved by opening some of the holes either half or one fourth of the way. Other semitones are achieved by a slight turn of the head.
The ney, together with the kudüm, are the two main instruments of Mevlevî music, but have been widely used since very early periods in secular music as well. There are several different sizes of ney, each with its own name, including (from low to high register) bolahenk, davut, sah, mansur, kizneyi, müstahsen, and sipürde. These names are used as tunings (ahenk) in classical Turkish music. Of the twelve sizes of neys, seven are tuned to natural tones, and five to half tones. The half tone of each of the chief tones is known as maybeyn. There are also neys an octave above the lowest register neys such as bolahenk and davut neys; these are known as nisfiye neys.

MISKAL or SKAL or MUSIKAL - PANFLUTE

The miskal was one of the instruments classified in organology as a "multi-bored flute." Also known as the "Pan flute," the multi-bored flute is one of the oldest instruments invented by mankind, and has been used nearly everywhere in the world. In the great majority of pan flutes, the lower ends of the pipes are closed. Today, they are common in different forms in Romania, Korea and South America.

The Ottoman Turkish word miskal is believed to be a corruption of the Persian musikar. Like several other instruments, the miskal also came to the Ottomans from Iran. Structurally identical with the Romanian nai, the miskal was very popular in Turkish music until the middle of the 18th century, but was later abandoned.

There were two sizes of miskal. The larger of the two was known as sah mansur, the smaller as küçük mansur. Used more in secular music, the miskal was played indoors as the sole wind instrument or together with the ney; in outdoor celebrations it was played alongside the zurna.