Bağlama
Different sizes of bağlama: Cura (left, smallest) and Çöğür bağlaması/Tambura Bağlaması (right, middle sized) | |
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The bağlama or saz is a long-necked fretted lute used in the folk music of Turkey and neighbouring regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.[1] It belongs to the wider family of long-necked lutes known as Tanburs, a group of instruments historically distributed from Iran and Mesopotamia across Central Asia and Anatolia.[2]
Musicologists classify the saz as part of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes.[3]
Within this broader organological tradition, the modern saz developed in Anatolia as the principal folk lute of Turkish folk music and became closely associated with the repertoire of itinerant poet-musicians known as âşıks.[4]
Name
According to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "the terms 'bağlama' and 'saz' are used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey. 'Saz' is generally used interchangeably with 'enstrüman' (instrument) and it is used to refer single or group of musical instruments like 'üflemeli sazlar' (wind instruments).[5]
Bağlama scale
The musical scale of the bağlama differs from that of many western instruments – such as the guitar – in that it features ratios that are close to quarter tones. The traditional ratios for bağlama frets are listed by Yalçın Tura:[6]
- Fret 1: 18/17
- Fret 2: 12/11
- Fret 3: 9/8
- Fret 4: 81/68
- Fret 5: 27/22
- Fret 6: 81/64
- Fret 7: 4/3
- Fret 8: 24/17
- Fret 9: 16/11
- Fret 10: 3/2
- Fret 11: 27/17
- Fret 12: 18/11
- Fret 13: 27/16
- Fret 14: 16/9
- Fret 15: 32/17
- Fret 16: 64/33
- Fret 17: 2/1
However, as confirmed by Okan Öztürk,[7] instrument makers now often set frets on the bağlama with the aid of fret calculators[8] and tuners based on the 24-tone equal temperament. The frets include the 12 tones within 12-tone equal temperament, along with 5 more. This means that 12 tone songs can be played on the Bağlama.
Notable performers
- Aşık Veysel (1894–1973)
- Muharrem Ertaş (1913–1984)
- Neşet Ertaş (1938–2012)
- Musa Eroğlu (1945–)
- Orhan Gencebay
- Arif Sağ (1946–)
- Nida Tüfekçi
- Orhan Ölmez
- Aşık Mahzuni Şerif (1940–2002)
- Nuray Hafiftaş (1964–2018)
See also
- Alevism
- Art of Azerbaijani Ashiqs
- Baglamas
- Bouzouki (Greece)
- Buzuq (Lebanon & Syria)
- Çiftelia
- Dombra
- Dutar
- Innaby, Azerbaijani dance
- Komuz
- Music of Turkey
- Sallaneh (lute)
- Šargija
- Setar
- Tambura (instrument)
- Tanbur
References
- ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Oxford University Press.
The terms bağlama and saz are used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey.
- ^ During, Jean. The Spirit of Sounds: The Unique Art of Ostad Elahi. Associated University Press.
The tanbur is an ancient long-necked lute of Iranian origin whose descendants spread widely across the Middle East and Central Asia.
- ^ History of lute-family instruments.
The tanbur family includes bağlama (saz) and related long-necked lutes.
- ^ Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford University Press.
The bağlama or saz is the central instrument of Turkish folk music and the traditional accompaniment of the âşık poets.
- ^ Scheherezade Qassim Hassan; Morris, R. Conway; Baily, John; During, Jean (2001). "Tanbūr". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. xxv (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. pp. 61–62.
- ^ Yalçın Tura, "Türk Musikisinin Mes'eleleri". İstanbul, Pan Yayıncılık, 1988, ISBN 975-7652-02-4. See page 159.
- ^ Zhudki, Aleh. "O. ÖZTÜRK: FROM SEVENTEEN TO TWENTY-FOUR: INSTRUMENTS OF BAĞLAMA FAMILY AND TRADITIONAL TONE SYSTEM". academia.edu. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "Bağlamada Perde Ayarları". www.turkuler.com. Retrieved 2 April 2018.