As one moves west past Tirebolu towards Kerasounta/Giresun, the number of lyra players begins to decrease and the lute as well as the violin (keman) and tambourine (tef) begin playing a more important role in Pontic music. The center of lyra playing activity seems to have been the district of Trabzon and the contiguous areas of the districts to the west and east of it as well as to the south, Giresun, Rize, and Gümüşhane whose main town was Arghyrόpolis. Compare the from south Afghina with the kemenche/Pontic lyra. On the other hand, the kemenche may be result of the natural development of an instrument which had, at once time, an elongated water gourd for its body. It may be that the old dancing master’s kit or pochette fiddle one form of which outwardly resembles the Pontic lyra, was adapted and developed later in isolation in Pontos led to the present form of kemenche. Other fiddles played by pressure of the pads of the fingers upon the strings as is also done with some lyras which have the third or even the second string positioned in such a way so as not to allow the easy insertion of the finger between the strings and the spike fiddles, and there are those lyras whose strings are depressed onto the neck of the instrument by the player’s finger pads in the way violin strings are pressed such as an unusual type of Dodecanesian lyra with four strings, the large Cappadocian kemanes, and the kemenche. This would include the Indian sarangi and the Bulgarian gadulka. Many folk fiddles ranging from Southeastern Europe to the Indian sub-continent are played by the lateral pressure of the finger nails of the player’s hand against the strings with the instrument generally being held facing outwards. This is mainly due to the not-so-loud sound of the lyra. Its small light weight design allows it to be held up for a long time and in some cases the musician would follow the first dancer around (even dance as well). A kemenche is a bowed instrument, the bow is called doksar. It is sometimes played by resting it on the knee when sitting, and sometimes it is held out in front. It is a bottle-shaped, 3-stringed fiddle played in the upright position. It is the main instrument used in Pontian music. In Greece and the Pontian Greek diaspora it is known as the “Pontian lyra”. KemencheĪ kemenche (Turkish: kemençe, Greek: κεμεντζές) is a kind of rebec or fiddle from the Black Sea region of Asia Minor also known as the “Kementche of Laz” in Turkey. Among others, Ruhi Ayangil, Erol Deran, Halil Karaduman, and Begoña Olavide are present-day exponents of this instrument. The kanun is a descendant of the old Egyptian harp, and is related to the psaltery, dulcimer and zither. Hundreds of mandal configurations are at the player’s disposal when performing on an ordinary Turkish kanun. Some kanun makers choose to divide the semitone of the lower registers into 7 parts instead for microtonal subtlety at the expense of octave equivalences. Not all pitches of 72-tone equal temperament are available on the Turkish kanun, however, since kanun makers only affix mandals for intervals that are demanded by performers. While Armenian kanuns employ half-tones and Arabic qanuns quarter-tones, typical Turkish kanuns divide the equal-tempered semitone of 100 cents into 6 equal parts, yielding 72 equal divisions (or commas) of the octave. These small levers, which can be raised or lowered quickly by the performer while the instrument is being played, serve to change the pitch of a particular course slightly by altering the string lengths. The instrument also has special latches for each course, called mandals. The dimensions of Turkish kanuns are typically 95 to 100 cm (37-39″) long, 38 to 40 cm (15-16″) wide and 4 to 6 cm (1.5-2.3″) high. It is played on the lap by plucking the strings with two tortoise-shell picks, one in each hand, or by the fingernails, and has a range of three and a half octaves, from A2 to E6. Kanuns used in Turkey have 26 courses of strings, with three strings per course. Nylon or PVC strings are stretched over a single bridge poised on fish-skins on one end, attached to tuning pegs at the other end. It is basically a zither with a narrow trapezoidal soundboard. The qanún or kanun (Arabic قانون qânûn, from Greek κανων ‘measuring rod rule’ akin to καννα ‘cane’) is a string instrument found in Near Eastern traditional music based on Maqamat. Read about the instruments used by Primary Music’s artists: Kanun
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |