Tanbur
The term tanbūr (Persian: تنبور) can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia.[1] According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur (or tambur) is applied to a variety of distinct and related long-necked lutes used in art and folk traditions. Similar or identical instruments are also known by other terms."[1]
Origins
One study has identified the name "tanbūr" as being derived from pandur, a Sumerian term for long-necked lutes.[2] Lutes have been present in Mesopotamia since the Akkadian era, or the third millennium BCE.[1]
The tanbur was already in use in the Sassanian period (5th-6th CE).[3] In the tenth century CE Al-Farabi described a Baghdad tunbūr, distributed south and west of Baghdad, and a Khorasan tunbūr found in Persia.[1] This distinction may be the source of modern differentiation between Arabic instruments, derived from the Baghdad tunbūr, and those found in northern Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sindh and Turkey, from the Khorasan tunbūr.[1]
Later the Kurdish tanbur became associated with the music of the Ahl-e Haqq or "People of the Real", a primarily Kurdish ghulat religious movement similar to a Sufi order, where it is called the tembûr.[4] It is currently the only musical instrument used in Ahl-e Haqq rituals, and practitioners venerate tembûrs as sacred objects.[5]
The tembûr measures 80 cm in height and 16 cm in breadth.[4] The resonator is pear-shaped and made of either a single piece or multiple carvels of mulberry wood.[4] The neck is made of walnut and has fourteen frets, arranged in a semi-tempered chromatic scale.[4] It has two steel strings tuned in fifth, fourth, or second intervals.[4][5] The higher string may be double-coursed.[4][5]
Types
The Persian name spread widely, eventually taking in
- Long-necked lutes used in Central Asian music such as the Dombura and the classical Turkish tambur as well as the Kurdish tembûr.[1][5] Until the early twentieth century, the names chambar and jumbush were applied to instruments in northern Iraq.[1] In India the name was applied to the tambura, a fretless drone lute.[1]
- Similar instruments of East European music including the tambour and the domra.
The name also came to apply to several other instruments of different classes including
Furthermore, the fretted Tanbur influenced the design of many instruments other than those above, notably;
- The saz (Persian: "instrument") is found in the Caucasus, Iran, Turkey, northern Syria, western Iraq, and Southeast Europe.[1] In Turkey, the terms bağlama and saz both refer to a long-necked lute used in folk music.[1] Closely related are the Greek bouzouki and the buzuq, an instrument found in urban areas such as Baghdad, Damascus, and Beirut.[1]
- The dutar and setar, found in Iran and Central Asia, are derived from the Khorosanian tunbūr.[1]
- The Shirvan tanbur has a pear-shaped form and belongs to the same family of instruments as the saz. The total length of the tanbur is 940 mm. The length of the body is 385 mm, the width is 200 mm and the height is 135 mm. The length of the neck is 340 mm, and the length of the head is 120 mm. The Shirvan tanbur ranges from the "do" of the first octave to the "mi" of the second octave.
- The Pamiri tanbur is considered to be a more solemn instrument. Its tone is deeper and its tuning more complex than that of the rubab. The tanbur is 80–85 cm in length, and is carved from the trunk of a mulberry or apricot tree. Its sounding board is made of goat or sheep skin. Its unfretted fingerboard has a hollow to create a more powerful voice, and its top is shaped like a half moon. It has seven nylon strings and an eight-string, which duplicates the highest note.[7]
- The tambouras is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, similar to the Turkish saz and the Persian tanbur.
See also
- Category:Eastern lutes players
- Pandura
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Scheherezade Qassim Hassan, R. Conway Morris, John Baily, Jean During. "Tanbūr", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001), xxv, pp. 61-62.
- ^ Erkut, Cumhur; T. Tolonen, M. Karjalainen, and V. Välimäki (July 1999). "Acoustical Analysis of Tanbur, a Turkish long-necked lute" (PDF). Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress on Sound and Vibration. vol. 1. Sixth International Congress on Sound and Vibration. Lyngby, Denmark. pp. 345–352. http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2000/isbn9512251965/article4.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
- ^ Jean During, Spirit of Sounds : The Unique Art of Ostad Elahi (1895-1974), ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITY PRESS, ISBN 978-0-8453-4884-0, ISBN 0-8453-4884-1
- ^ a b c d e f Scheherezade Qassim Hassan, R. Conway Morris, John Baily, Jean During. "Tanbur", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001), xxv, pp. 61-62.
- ^ a b c d Shiloah, Amnon. "Kurdish music", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001), xiv, p. 40.
- ^ Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary 1977, "Tambourine".
- ^ http://www.pamirtours.tj/sam/instruments.htm
External links