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Tanbur (Turkish)
Encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Tanbur (disambiguation).
The Tambur (spelled in keeping with TDK
Turkish Language Association
The Turkish Language Association is the official regulatory body of the Turkish language, founded on July 12, 1932 and headquartered in Ankara, Turkey...
conventions, although it is commonly spelled "tanbur") is a fretted string instrument of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Like the ney
Ney
The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...
, the armudi (lit. pear-shaped) kemençe and the kudüm
Kudüm
Kudüm is one of the most fundamental rhythm instruments in classical Turkish music. The personplaying it is called kudümzen. It is among ney, rebap, and halile as one of thefour main instruments in Mevlevi music....
, it constitutes one of the four instruments of the basic quartet of Turkish classical music
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...
aka Sanat Musiği (lit. Art Music). Of the two variants, one is played with a plectrum (mızraplı tambur) and the other with a bow (yaylı tambur). The player is called a tanburî.
History and development
There are several hypotheses as to the origin of the instrument. One suggests that it descended from the kopuz, a string instrument still in use among the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and the Caspian region . The name itself derives from the Arabic tunbur which in turn might have descended from the SumerSumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
ian pantur. The name (and its variants such as tamboura, dombura) also denotes a wide spectrum of pear-shaped string instruments in Persia and Central Asia yet these share only their names with the Ottoman court instrument and in fact are more akin to bağlama
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
s or sazes
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
. In ancient Hittite
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
texts, we come across a string instrument called tibula, which is most likely to have been the ancestor of the Ottoman court instrument via Byzantine tambouras. This latter hypothesis could also account for the favor the instrument received in the Ottoman court vis-à-vis its rival, the oud
Oud
The 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...
. As of the 17th century AD, the tanbur had already taken its present form and structure and assumed the preponderant role it still holds in Classical Turkish Music performance.
Description of the instrument
Tamburs are made almost entirely of wood. The shell (Tekne) is assembled from strips of hardwoodHardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
called ribs joined edge to edge to form a semi-spherical body for the instrument. The number of ribs traditionally amounts to 17, 21 or 23, yet examples with slightly wider and consequently fewer ribs (7, 9 or 11) can also be found among older specimens. Traditionally, thinner strips called fileto are inserted between the ribs for ornamental purposes, but are not obligatory. The most common tonewood
Tonewood
Tonewood generally refers to any wood which may be used in the construction of a musical instrument. Many acoustic properties are often assigned to specific wood species; however the description of these properties is itself a large subject and beyond the scope of this article...
veneers
Wood veneer
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm , that are typically glued onto core panels to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry...
used for rib-making are mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
, flame maple
Flame maple
Flame maple , also known as flamed maple, curly maple, ripple maple, fiddleback or tiger stripe, is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern, producing wavy lines known as "flames"...
, Persian walnut
Persian Walnut
Juglans regia, the Persian walnut, English walnut, or especially in Great Britain, Common walnut, is an Old World walnut tree species native to the region stretching from the Balkans eastward to the Himalayas and southwest China...
, Mecca balsam wood (Commiphora gileadensis), Spanish chestnut, Greek juniper, mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
, Oriental plane
Platanus orientalis
Platanus orientalis, or the Oriental plane, is a large, deciduous tree of the Platanaceae family, known for its longevity and spreading crown. The species name derives from its historical distribution eastward from the Balkans, where it was recognized in ancient Greek history and literature....
, Indian rosewood and apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
. Ribs are assembled on the bottom wedge
Wedge
Wedge may refer to:Mathematics:* Triangular prism, a parallel triangle wedge* Wedge , a polyhedral solid defined by two triangles and three trapezoid faces* Wedge product, a mathematical term, named for the ∧ operator symbol used...
(tail) and the heel on which the fingerboard
Fingerboard
The fingerboard is a part of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument and above which the strings run...
is mounted.
The soundboard
Sounding board
A 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) is a rotund thin (2.5–3 mm) flat three-, two- or single-piece plate of resonant wood (usually Nordmann
Nordmann Fir
Nordmann Fir is a fir native to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia, Russian Caucasus and northern parts of Armenia. It occurs at altitudes of 900-2,200 m on mountains with a rainfall of over 1,000 mm.It is a large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 60 m tall...
, silver
Silver Fir
Abies alba, commonly known as the European silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathians, and south to southern Italy and northern Serbia.-Description:...
or Greek fir
Greek Fir
Greek Fir is a fir native to the mountains of Greece, primarily in the Peloponnesos and the island of Kefallonia, intergrading with the closely related Bulgarian Fir further north in the Pindus mountains of northern Greece. It is a medium-size evergreen coniferous tree growing to – rarely – tall...
). This circular plate measuring about 30 to 35 cm in diameter is mounted on the bottom wedge and the heel with simmering glue and encircled with a wooden ring. A soundhole is either wanting or consists of a very small unornamented opening (mostly in historical specimens), giving the instrument its peculiar sonority.
The neck (Sap) is a mince (only 4-4.5 cm in diameter) 100–110 cm long D-section fingerboard made of light wood and carries catgut
Catgut
Catgut is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fibre found in the walls of animal intestines. Usually sheep or goat intestines are used, but it is occasionally made from the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, or donkeys.-Etymology:...
frets adjusted to give 36 intervals in an octave. Catgut frets are fixed on the neck by means of minute nails. The main bridge
Bridge (instrument)
A bridge is a device for supporting the strings on a stringed instrument and transmitting the vibration of those strings to some other structural component of the instrument in order to transfer the sound to the surrounding air.- Explanation :...
is trapezoidal and mobile, and since the shell lacks braces to support the soundboard, the latter slightly yields in under the bridge. The smaller upper bridge between the pegbox
Pegbox
A pegbox is the part of certain stringed musical instruments that houses the tuning pegs....
and the neck is traditionally made of bone.
The plectrum
Plectrum
A 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...
is made of tortoiseshell
Tortoiseshell material
Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced mainly from the shell of the hawksbill turtle, an endangered species. It was widely used in the 1960s and 1970s in the manufacture of items such as combs, sunglasses, guitar picks and knitting needles...
and is called "bağa" (meaning turtle). Cut in an asymmetrical V-form and polished at 45° on the tip, it measures 2-2.5 mm x 5–6 mm x 10–15 cm.
Nowadays the tanbur has seven strings. In the past tanburs with eight strings were not uncommon.
A Variant: The Yaylı Tanbur
The yaylı tanburYayli tanbur
The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked tanbur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the playing end with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo....
has a similar physical appearance, although the shell -a nearly perfect semi-sphere- might be made of metal. It is played with a bow instead of a plectrum. The technique was introduced by Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey , was a Turkish tanbur, yaylı tanbur, kemençe, and lavta virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the taksim genre in Ottoman classical music...
in the end of the 19th century. Ercüment Batanay was, after Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey , was a Turkish tanbur, yaylı tanbur, kemençe, and lavta virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the taksim genre in Ottoman classical music...
, the most outstanding virtuoso of this instrument, until his passing away. The yaylı tanbur is held vertically on the knees, as opposed to the regular one where the neck is maintained horizontal to the ground at all times.
Performers and techniques
Owing to its long past, the tambur has let flourish several schools of interpretation. The oldest description of tanburîs is reported by the French traveller Charles Fonton who describes the use of catgut frets. A Turkish musical theory written in the beginning of the 18th century by the famous Kantemir PashaDimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
-first an Ottoman citizen of Polish-Moldovian origin, then voivode of Moldovia- elucidates for the first time the proper intervals to use. Yet there is little mention of playing styles and the first tambur master recorded by chronicles and of whom we have solid information is Tanburi İzak Effendi, who is said to have brought the playing technique to maturity. Today, he is considered as the reference of the "old style" in tambur playing, partially recovered in the 20th century by Mesut Cemil
Mesut Cemil
Mesut Cemil was a Turkish composer, and a notable tanbur lute and cello player. His father was Tanburi Cemil Bey.He participated in the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music.-References:Sources consulted Endnotes...
. Sheikh of the Rifai Tekkesi in Kozyatağı (Istanbul) Abdülhalim Efendi was his pupil and carried on the same tradition. Among notable 18th century players were Numan Agha, Zeki Mehmed Agha, Tanburî Küçük Osman Bey, all of whom remained representatives of this allegedly old style. The first virtuoso to claim renovation was Tanburi Büyük Osman Bey
Tanburi Büyük Osman Bey
Tanburi Büyük Osman Bey was an Ottoman composer and tanbur player. He is considered one of the most outstanding peşrev compositors in Ottoman classical music.-Life:...
who broke with his father Zeki Mehmed Agha's technique to present his own. Later on, this later style became so prevalent that the older technique came to suffer oblivion. The musical heritage transmitted to Suphi Ezgi by Abdülhalim Efendi, and from the former to Mesut Cemil
Mesut Cemil
Mesut Cemil was a Turkish composer, and a notable tanbur lute and cello player. His father was Tanburi Cemil Bey.He participated in the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music.-References:Sources consulted Endnotes...
, an eminent figure in 19th Turkish Classical Music, has helped retrieve the essentials of this old technique. One last important tanburi successfully performing according to principles of the old school was Cemil Özbal (1908–1980) from Gaziantep
Gaziantep
Gaziantep , Ottoman Turkish: Ayintab) previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria...
.
Yet the most renowned and probably the most prolific of tanburis is Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey
Tanburi Cemil Bey , was a Turkish tanbur, yaylı tanbur, kemençe, and lavta virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the taksim genre in Ottoman classical music...
, who not only excelled in virtuosity but bequeathed a heritage that later prominent figures of Turkish Classical Music such as Neyzen 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...
and Tanburi Necdet Yaşar
Necdet Yasar
Necdet Yaşar or Necdet Yasar in the West , is a Turkish tanbur lute player and teacher. A founding member of the Istanbul State Turkish Music Ensemble, he performed throughout the world as a cultural ambassador for Turkey and taught twice at the University of Washington...
claimed.