Zurna
Encyclopedia
- For other spellings, see Surna (disambiguation)Surna (disambiguation)Surna may refer to:*Zurna, instrument*Surna , a river in Surnadal, Norway...
The zurna (also called surnay, birbynė
Birbyne
A birbynė is a Lithuanian aerophone that can be either single or double-reeded and may or may not have a mouthpiece. Birbynė can be made of a variety materials: wood, bark, horn, straw, goose feather, etc. The earliest and simplest examples were used by children as playtoys and by shepherds as a...
, lettish horn, surla, sornai,
dili tuiduk
Dili tuiduk
The dili tuiduk, дилли туйдук is a Turkmen woodwind instrument. It is a clarinet-like, single-reed instrument used mainly in Turkmen folk music.Dilli-tuyduk These come in two kinds. In one, the reed end of the instrument is closed and in the other it is open...
, zournas, zurma), is a multinational outdoor wind instrument
Wind instrument
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
, usually accompanied by a davul
Davul
The davul or tupan is a large double-headed drum that is played with sticks. It has many names depending on the country and region.-Names:Some names of davuls include:*tupan *davul...
(bass drum) in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
n folk music. The name is from Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
zurna, itself derived from Persian
Persian language
Persian 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...
سرنای surnāy, composed of sūr “banquet, feast” and nāy “reed, pipe”. Turkmen say that Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
, who was moulded from clay, had no soul. It is said that it was only due to the melodious tuiduk-playing Archangel Gabriel could breathe life into Adam. According to a Turkmen legend the main role in tuiduk invention was played by the devil (note the term ″devil openings", şeytan delikleri, in Turkish for the small apertures on the bell). There is a ritual of
inviting guests for a celebration which has survived from ancient times. Two tuiduk players stand in front of each other, point their instruments upwards and play in unison. While doing this they perform magic circular movements which remind that this ritual used to be linked to shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
.
Characteristics and history
The Zurna , like the dudukDuduk
The duduk , traditionally known since antiquity as a Ծիրանափող is a traditional woodwind instrument indigenous to Armenia. Variations of it are popular in the Middle East and Central Asia...
and 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...
, is a woodwind instrument used to play Anatolian and Middle Eastern folk music. The zurna is a conical oboe, made from the fruit tree 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 :...
( Prunus Armeniaca ), and uses a double reed which generates a sharp, piercing sound. Thus, it has historically been played outdoors during festive events such as weddings and holidays. It has 8 holes on the front, 7 of which are used while playing, and 1 thumbhole which provide a range of one octave.
It is similar to the Mizmar
Mizmar
In Arabic music, a mizmar is any single or double reed wind instrument. In Egypt, the term mizmar usually refers to the conical shawm that is called zurna in Turkey....
. Zurnas are also used in the folk music of the countries in the region, especially Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, 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...
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; 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....
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Bosnia and the other Caucasian countries
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, and has now spread throughout China, and Eastern Europe.
The Zurna is most likely the immediate predecessor of the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Shawm
Shawm
The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the 12th century until the 17th century. It was developed from the oriental zurna and is the predecessor of the modern oboe. The body of the shawm was usually turned from a single piece of wood,...
as well as related to the Chinese
Traditional Chinese musical instruments
-The Eight Sounds or Eight Tones :The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. There are other instruments which may not fit these classifications. This is one of the first musical classifications ever.-Silk :...
Suona
Suona
The suona ; also called laba or haidi is a Han Chinese shawm . It has a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors...
still used today in temple and funeral music. The Japanese charumera, or charamera, traditionally associated with itinerant noodle vendors is a small zurna, its name deriving from the Portuguese chirimiya. Few, if any noodle vendors continue this tradition and, if any, would undoubtedly use a loudspeaker playing a recorded charumera.
There are several types of zurnas. They all share one and the same sound inductor - the so called kalem - which is actually a very tight (and short) double reed, sometimes made out of wheat leaves. The longest (and lowest) is the Kaba zurna, used in northern Turkey and Bulgaria. As a rule of thumb, a zurna is conical and made of wood.
Etymology and terminology
Oldest Turkish records suruna in Codex CumanicusCodex Cumanicus
The Codex Cumanicus was a linguistic manual of the Middle Ages, designed to help Catholic missionaries communicate with the Cumans, a nomadic Turkic people. It is currently housed in the Library of St. Mark, in Venice ....
(CCM fol. 45a) < Persian
Persian language
Persian 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...
word that is combined of two parts:
- Sur = festival & red
- Nay / Na = Reed / Pipe ".
Terminology in Anatolia
Turkish terminology1. Head and reed
- zaynak AnkaraAnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
- nazik AbdalAbdalAbdal may refer to:* Abdal, a rank of forty Sufi saints* Dervish, or Sufi ascetic* Abdal, Azerbaijan, a village in Nagorno-Karabakh* The Äynu people of Xinjiang region, China...
- ula UludağUludagUludağ , the ancient Mysian Olympus, is a mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey, with an altitude of . It is a popular center for winter sports such as skiing, and a national park of rich flora and fauna...
- çatal ÇankırıÇankırı-Agriculture:Various produce like wheat, corn, beans, apple etc. are grown in the farms, and fields that are rich of water.-Industry:Most of the industry is located near the city center and Korgun. Other towns that are in the industrial map of the city are Şabanözü, Çerkeş, Ilgaz, Kurşunlu, and...
- zinak DiyarbakırDiyarbakırDiyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
- nezik GaziantepGaziantepGaziantep , 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...
- fasla KırklareliKirklareliKırklareli is the capital of Kırklareli Province in Eastern Thrace, on the European part of Turkey. The province has a coastline on the Black Sea. There is a Jewish community.-Name:It is not clearly known when the city was founded, nor under what name...
- zaynak -
2. Pipe
- metef AnkaraAnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
- metem AbdalAbdalAbdal may refer to:* Abdal, a rank of forty Sufi saints* Dervish, or Sufi ascetic* Abdal, Azerbaijan, a village in Nagorno-Karabakh* The Äynu people of Xinjiang region, China...
- çığırdan UludağUludagUludağ , the ancient Mysian Olympus, is a mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey, with an altitude of . It is a popular center for winter sports such as skiing, and a national park of rich flora and fauna...
- demir ÇankırıÇankırı-Agriculture:Various produce like wheat, corn, beans, apple etc. are grown in the farms, and fields that are rich of water.-Industry:Most of the industry is located near the city center and Korgun. Other towns that are in the industrial map of the city are Şabanözü, Çerkeş, Ilgaz, Kurşunlu, and...
- bülbülük DiyarbakırDiyarbakırDiyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
- kanel KırklareliKirklareliKırklareli is the capital of Kırklareli Province in Eastern Thrace, on the European part of Turkey. The province has a coastline on the Black Sea. There is a Jewish community.-Name:It is not clearly known when the city was founded, nor under what name...
- metef -
- lüle Sivas
Salmiej (Zalejka, hornpipe)
Reconstruction of the European reed instruments known since the 11th century. The instrument is made by master Todar Kaskurevic. In Belarus, common people called hornpipes zalejkas since the 11th century, while the dukes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania called them salmiejs. (See also Google references to schalmei, some of which mention the shawm.)Surnai
Reed instrument — a folk oboe with a conical body made of wood or horn (ever buree = horn), widening towards the end. It has seven finger holes and one thumbhole. A metal staple carries the reed and a lip-disc in the shape of a funnel. The short form of the instrument is known as "haidi", meaning 'flute of the sea'.See also
- DudukDudukThe duduk , traditionally known since antiquity as a Ծիրանափող is a traditional woodwind instrument indigenous to Armenia. Variations of it are popular in the Middle East and Central Asia...
- NeyNeyThe 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...
- SornaSornaThe sornā or Sarnā is an ancient Iranian woodwind instrument.-Etymology:...
- RhaitaRhaitaThe rhaita or ghaita is a double reed instrument from Northern Africa. It is nearly identical in construction to the Arabic mizmar and the Turkish zurna....
- SuonaSuonaThe suona ; also called laba or haidi is a Han Chinese shawm . It has a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors...
- KanglingKanglingKangling is the Tibetan word for a trumpet or horn made out of a human thighbone, used in Himalayan Buddhist funeral rituals. The femur of a criminal or a person who died a violent death is preferred....
- SopilaSopilaThe sopile is an ancient traditional woodwind instrument of Croatia, similar to the oboe or shawm. It is used in the regions of Kvarner, Kastav, Vinodol, Island Krk, and Istria. Sopile are always played in pair so there are great and small or thin and fat sopila...
- PifferoPifferoThe piffero or piffaro is a double reed musical instrument with a conical bore, of the oboe family.It is used to play music in the tradition of the quattro province, an area of mountains and valleys in the north-west Italian Apennines which includes parts of the four provinces of Alessandria,...
External links
- http://www.gajde.com
- http://www.duduk.com/Arm-music-ins/Zurna/Info-Zurna/index.html
- http://zangezur.tripod.com/music/zurna.html
- zurna fingering
- Armenian Zurna By master Arthur Grigoryan
- Professional Zurna
- Pontic Zourna
- History of the Zurna, from ancient times until the 18th century; in German: Janissary instruments and Europe
- Zurna-FAQ This site tries to answer the typical questions a beginner has about the zurna; it explains and illustrates the principal techniques a zurna player must master.
- KabaZurna This site is mostly in Turkish but has pictures of making the instrument, sound clips etc..
The kabazurna, the largest member in size of the zurna family, is to be found in a smaller area than the other folk music instruments. On the other hand, it is the primary instrument of Mehter music and folk dancing music.