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Ney (Turkish)
Encyclopedia
Ottoman classical music
Ottoman 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...
. The ney also plays a primary role in the music of the Mevlevi
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order, or the Mevlevilik or Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded in Konya by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form...
Sufi rites (semâ).
A rim-blown, oblique flute made of reed, the Turkish ney has six finger-holes in front and a thumb-hole in back. Using cross-fingering, finger-hole shading, and embouchure adjustment, the journeyman player can produce any pitch over a two-and-a-half octave range or more. Nearly all Turkish neys have a mouthpiece made of water buffalo horn, or sometimes ivory, ebony, plastic, or similar durable material. Sizes range from the lowest, Davud (in E/mi, 95 cm long), to the highest, Bolahenk nısfiye (in d/re, 52.5 cm long). The low-pitched Ṣah (Shah) ney (in F/fa, 90 cm long) is shown at right. Note: Pitches in the previous sentence refer to the note generated with all holes closed. In some Turkish musical circles, the "pitch" (akord) of a ney is determined differently, using the note (perde) which matches A=440 (diyapazon). This pitch is one note higher, e.g., Mansur being A/La rather than G/Sol. Note also that the lengths above are approximate.
One refers to a Turkish ney player using the verb üflemek (blow) although for all other instrumentalists one uses the verb çalmak (play). One might speculate that the ney's close identification with the Mevlevi
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order, or the Mevlevilik or Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded in Konya by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form...
Sufis might be the origin of this usage.
The classical Turkish ney's closest relatives in other countries, the Arab nay and the Persian ney, do not use a mouthpiece, but rather blow against the sharpened edge of the tube. In Turkish folk music, one type of ney (dilli)(Tin whistle
Tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
) has a fipple; the other type (dilsiz) is a rim-blown oblique flute, as is the Turkish classical ney. The Bulgarian kaval
Kaval
The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout Azerbaijan, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, southern Serbia , northern Greece , Romania , and Armenia...
, a folk instrument, resembles the Turkish dilsiz folk ney. The Romanian nai—a panpipe, not a flute— may be related etymologically and morphologically.
Noted recent ney players include Niyazi Sayın
Niyazi Sayin
Niyazi Sayın , spelled Niyazi Sayin in the West, is a Turkish ney flautist and music educator. For a long time, he has performed duets with tanbur lute player Necdet Yaşar...
, Akagunduz Kutbay
Akagündüz Kutbay
Aka Gündüz Kutbay , a leading Turkish ney player of the 1960s and 1970s, was known for his traditional sound, deep tones , and interest in jazz, Tibetan, Indian, and other world musics.Kutbay was a staff musician for many years at Radio Istanbul, where he considered himself a...
, Sadreddin Özçimi, Kudsi Erguner
Kudsi Erguner
Kudsi Erguner is a Turkish musician. He is considered a master of traditional Mevlevi Sufi music and is one of the best-known players of the Turkish ney flute.-Biography:...
and Süleyman Erguner (torun).
External links
- "Construction of the Turkish Ney," by Anthony Tamer in TMQ
- "Construction of Turkish and Arabic Ney + music samples in Greece,"'
- Improvisation by Süleyman Erguner on Ṣah ney (excerpt) 00:01:58, 4.7 MB, mp3
- Turkish Music Quarterly contents
- NeyAtolye - Turkish Ney Flute Workshop, Izmir - TURKEY (English) extensive information about the Turkish Ney.
- NEYZEN, a useful resource (English)
- NEYYAPIM, also a useful resource (English)
- Neyforum, also in English (English)
- NEYDERGISI, The first journal only about NEY (Turkish)