The
bağlama is a
stringedA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
musical instrumentA musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
shared by various
cultureCulture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s in the Eastern
Mediterranean,
Near EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
, and
Central AsiaCentral Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
.
It is sometimes referred to as the
saz (from the
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, meaning a kit or set), although the term "saz" actually refers to a family of
plucked string instrumentPlucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate...
s, long-necked lutes used in
Ottoman classical musicOttoman classical music developed in Istanbul and major Ottoman towns from Skopje to Cairo, from Tabriz to Morocco through the palace, mosques, and sufi lodges of the Ottoman Empire. Above all a vocal music, Ottoman music traditionally accompanies a solo singer with a small instrumental ensemble...
,
Turkish folk musicTurkish folk music combines the distinct cultural values of all civilisations that have lived in Anatolia and the Ottoman territories in Europe and Asia...
,
Azeri musicMusic of Azerbaijan builds on folk traditions that reach back nearly 1,000 years. For centuries Azerbaijani music has evolved under the badge of monody, producing rhythmically diverse melodies. Azerbaijani music has a branchy mode system, where chromatisation of major and minor scales is of great...
,
Kurdish musicKurdish music refers to music performed in Kurdish language.Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers - storytellers , minstrels and bards . There was no specific music related to the Kurdish princely courts, and instead, music performed in night gatherings is...
,
Persian musicThe music of Iran has thousands of years of history, as seen in the archeological documents of Elam, one of the earliest world cultures,which was located in southwestern Iran...
, Afghan Music,
Assyrian musicAssyrian music may refer to:*Music in ancient Assyria*Assyrian/Syriac folk music*Syriac sacral music, sacral music in Syriac Christianity...
, and in parts of
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
,
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and the
Balkan countriesThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
.
LuteLute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s have been first present in
ancient GreeceAncient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
since the Akkadian era, where an ancient Greek
PanduraThe pandura is an ancient Greek string instrument from the Mediterranean basin.It is derived from pandur, a Sumerian term for long-necked lutes...
appears to have being played by a muse seated on a rock, since the
MantineiaMantineia was a city in ancient Greece that was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history. It is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat...
marble (4th century BC).
The bağlama is the most common of these, and is often called by the generic name; according to
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and MusiciansThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...
, "the terms "bağlama" and "saz" are used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey."
Like the Western
luteLute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
and the Middle-Eastern
oudThe oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
, it has a deep round back, but a much longer neck. It can be played with a
plectrumA plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
or with a fingerpicking style known as
şelpe.
In the
music of GreeceThe music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music, with more eastern sounds...
the name
baglamas (Greek μπαγλαμάς) is given to a treble
bouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
, a related instrument. The
TurkishTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
settlement of
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
from the late tenth century onward saw the introduction of a two-string
TurkmenThe Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
dutarThe dutar is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran, Central Asia and South Asia...
, which was played in some areas of
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
until recent times.
Turkish bağlama
The most commonly used string folk instrument in
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the bağlama has seven strings divided into courses of two, two and three. It can be tuned in various ways and takes different names according to region and size: Bağlama, Divan Sazı, Bozuk, Çöğür, Kopuz Irızva, Cura, Tambura, etc. The cura is the smallest member of the bağlama family: larger than the cura is the tambura, tuned an octave lower. The Divan sazı, the largest instrument in the family, is tuned one octave lower still.
A bağlama has three main parts, the bowl (called
tekne), made from mulberry wood or juniper, beech, spruce or walnut, the spruce
sounding boardA sound board, or soundboard, is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge. The resonant properties of the sound board and the interior of the instrument greatly increase loudness over the string alone.The sound board operates by the...
(
göğüs) and a
neckThe neck is the part of certain string instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings at different pitches. Guitars, lutes, the violin family, and the mandolin family are examples of instruments which have necks.The...
of beech or juniper (
sap ). The tuning pegs are known as
burgu (literally
screwA screw, or bolt, is a type of fastener characterized by a helical ridge, known as an external thread or just thread, wrapped around a cylinder. Some screw threads are designed to mate with a complementary thread, known as an internal thread, often in the form of a nut or an object that has the...
). Frets are tied to the
sap with fishing line, which allows them to be adjusted. The bağlama is usually played with a
tezene (similar to a
guitar pickA guitar pick is a plectrum used for guitars. A pick is generally made of one uniform material; examples include plastic, nylon, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, and stone...
) made from cherrywood bark or plastic. In some regions, it is played with the fingers in a style known as
Şelpe or
Şerpe.
There are also electric bağlamas, which can be connected to an amplifier. These can have either single or double pickups.
The kopuz and the bağlama
The bağlama is a synthesis of historical musical instruments in Central Asia and pre-Turkish
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. It is partly descended from the Turkic
komuzThe komuz or qomuz , Azeri Gopuz, Turkish Kopuz, is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments and the lute....
. The
kopuz, or
komuzThe komuz or qomuz , Azeri Gopuz, Turkish Kopuz, is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments and the lute....
, differs from the bağlama in that it has a leather-covered body and two or three strings made of sheep gut, wolf gut, or horsehair. It is played with the fingers rather than a plectrum and has a fingerboard without frets.
Bağlama literally translates as "something that is tied up", probably a reference to the tied-on frets of the instrument. The word bağlama is first used in 18th-century texts. The French traveler Jean Benjamin de Laborde, who visited
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
during that century, recorded that "the bağlama or tambura is in form exactly like the cogur, but smaller." He was probably referring to the smallest of the bağlama family, the cura.
According to the historian Hammer, metal strings were first used on a type of komuz with a long fingerboard known as the
kolca kopuz in 15th-century
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. This was the first step in the emergence of the çöğür (cogur), a transitional instrument between the komuz and the bağlama. According to 17th-century writer
Evliya ÇelebiEvliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveler who journeyed through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years.- Life :...
, the cogur was first made in the city of
KütahyaKütahya is a city in western Turkey with 212,444 inhabitants , lying on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Kütahya Province, inhabited by some 517 804 people...
in western Turkey. To take the strain of the metal strings the leather body was replaced with wood, the fingerboard was lengthened and frets were introduced. Instead of five hair strings there were now twelve metal strings arranged in four groups of three. Today, the cogur is smaller than a medium-size bağlama.
Bağlama (Saz) family
| Name | Freq. (low) | Neck Length | Bowl Radius | Neck Length | Wire Length | Description |
| Cura |
586Hz D |
22.5 |
13.5 |
30 |
48 |
The smallest (for demo click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRvGefZaBdY dead link ). |
| Üçtelli saz |
|
|
|
|
|
Three wire strings, single course). |
| Çöğür saz |
|
|
|
|
|
The Cogur |
| Tambura |
293Hz D |
38 |
22.8 |
52 |
80 |
See TanburThe term tanbūr can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related...
|
| Bağlama |
220Hz A |
44.5 |
24.9 |
55 |
88 |
The most common. |
| Bozuk saz |
G |
|
|
|
|
See bouzoukiThe bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
. |
| Meydan sazı |
110Hz A |
52.5 |
31.5 |
70 |
112 |
|
| Aşik sazı |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Divan sazı |
146Hz D |
49 |
29.4 |
65 |
104 |
|
| Bas sazı |
|
|
|
|
|
Bass version |
Bağlama tunings
There are three string groups, or
courseA course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string. It may also refer to a single string normally played on its own on an instrument with other multi-string courses, for example the bass string on a nine string baroque...
s, on the bağlama, with strings double or tripled. These string groups can be tuned in a variety of ways, known as
düzen (literally, "order"). For the
bağlama düzeni, the most common tuning, the courses are tuned from top downward, A-G-D. Some other
düzens are
Kara Düzen (C-G-D),
Misket Düzeni (A-D-F),
Müstezat (A-D-F),
Abdal Düzeni, and
Rast Düzeni.
- Name Notes (lower, middle, upper) course
- Bağlama düzeni (La, Sol, Re) (A, G, D)
- Bozuk düzen, kara düzen (Sol, Re, La) (G, D, A)
- Misket düzeni (Fa#, Re, La) (F#, D, A)
- Fa müstezat düzeni (Fa, Re, La) (F, D, A)
- Abdal düzeni (La, La, Sol) (A, A, G)
- Zurna düzeni (Re, Re, La) (D, D, A)
- Do müstezat düzeni (Sol, Do, La) (G, C, A)
Bağlama scale
The musical scale of the bağlama differs from that of many western instruments - such as the guitar - in that, like many other non-western lute instruments, it is based on
just intonationIn music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of small whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. The two notes in any just interval are members of the same harmonic series...
rather than
equally temperedAn equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
intervalIn music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...
s. This gives a truer harmony at the expense of the number of
keysIn music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
playable without retuning.
The octave is divided in 15 intervals (the octave is the 15th fret).
- Fret one: 15/16
- Fret two: 8/9
- Fret three: 5/6
- Fret four: 5/4
- Fret five: 4/3
- Fret six: 8/11
- Fret seven: 2/3
- Fret eight
- Fret nine
- Fret ten:
- Fret eleven:
- Fret twelve
- Fret thirteen:
- Fret fourteen
- Fret fifteen: 1/2
Notable performers
- Neset Ertas
Neşet Ertaş is a Turkish folk music singer, lyrics writer and a virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument bağlama. His profession in Turkish is known as halk şairi, which literally means "folk poet"....
- Orhan Gencebay
Orhan Gencebay is a Turkish musician, bağlama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, music producer, music director, and actor.-Early life and musical background:...
- Arif Sağ
Arif Sağ is a singer, bağlama virtuoso and leading figure in modern Turkish folk music, as well as a former MP in the Turkish parliament, and an academic....
- Hasret Gültekin
Hasret Gültekin was an Alevi Kurdish musician and poet who was murdered, along with 37 other people, in the Sivas Province of Turkey when a fundemantalist Islamist mob set fire to the hotel at which he was staying....
- Ahmet Koç
- Before the "Paradoks" :He appeared and played bağlama with the female singer Şebnem Paker at Eurovision Song Contest 1997, in Dublin, where they represented Turkey and came in 3rd place...
- Erol Parlak
- Aşık Daimi
- Erkan Oğur
Erkan Oğur , or Erkan Ogur in the West, is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976.Martinelli, op. cit.Unfretted, op. cit. A composer, he has influenced many musicians with his compositions combining the sounds of Turkish folk...
- Asik Veysel
- Çetin Akdeniz
- Erdal Erzincan
- Ali Fuat Aydin
- Kemal Alacayir
- Ferhat Tandogac
- Ali Ekber Çiçek
Ali Ekber Çiçek was born in 1935 in Erzincan, Turkey. His father died in a disastrous earthquake, and his mother suffered financial problems that made it impossible for her to support his education...
- Trey Spruance
Preston Lea Spruance III or "Trey Spruance" is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as the leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3 and for his work as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle...
from the band Secret Chiefs 3Secret Chiefs 3 is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance . Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music,...
plays an electric bağlama
See also
- Alevism
- Music of Turkey
The music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and has many copies and references of Byzantine music, Greek music, Ottoman music, Persian music, Balkan music, as well as more modern European and American popular music influences...
- Art of Azerbaijani Ashiqs
The art of Azerbaijani Ashiqs combines poetry, storytelling, dance and vocal and instrumental music into a traditional performance art. This art is one of the symbols of Azerbaijani culture and considered an emblem of national identity and the guardian of Azerbaijani language, literature and...
- Tanbur
The term tanbūr can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related...
- Komuz
The komuz or qomuz , Azeri Gopuz, Turkish Kopuz, is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments and the lute....
- Dutar
The dutar is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran, Central Asia and South Asia...
- Dombra
The dombura is a long-necked lute popular in Central Asian nations...
- Baglamas
- Sallaneh (lute)
The sallaneh is a newly developed plucked string instrument made under the supervision of the Iranian musician Hossein Alizadeh, and constructed by Siamak Afshari. It is inspired by the ancient Persian lute called barbat...
- Çiftelia
The Çifteli is an Albanian wooden, largely acoustic string instrument, with only two strings .The çifteli is commonly used by Albanian folk musicians as well as other modern musicians and is played by Albanians at weddings, concerts, national events, and other occasions...
- Šargija
The šargija is a plucked, fretted long necked chordophone used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania and Serbia....
- Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
(GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
)
- Buzuq
The buzuq is a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki and Turkish saz. It is an essential instrument in the Rahbani repertoire, but it is not classified among the classical instruments of Arab or Turkish music...
(LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
)
- Tambura
The tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
- Setar
SETAR N.V., is the privatised full telecommunications service provider for the island of Aruba. The services provided by SETAR include: telephone, internet and GSM-related wireless services. SETAR also owns Tele Aruba....
- Hicaz Hümâyun Saz Semâisi
"Hicaz Hümâyun Saz Semâisi" is a piece of music written by Neyzen Yusuf Paşa that demonstrates the many ways that Turkish music and European music differ. The time signature of this song is in 10/8 and it features multiple Dal Segno signs. The key signature for the song is a C and a B.Another...
- Tanbur
The term tanbūr can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related...
External links