Middle East

Here I regard the Middle East as the area of the Arabs, the Turks and the Iranians, which coincidently is more or less the area where the ud is one of the main plucked instruments.

So roughly it is North Africa (Morocco, Algiers, Tunesia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan), and then across the Nile in Asia : Jemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Israel does not have typical plucked instruments.
It also includes Turkey, which is a bit separate between the real Middle East and Greece (which is in Europe South) but I have put it here as most Turkish instruments have quite a resemblance with the Arabian ones.
For the same reason here are also the countries in the Caucasus mountains : Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Dagestan.

The ud (or oud) is the classical lute of the Arabs. It can also be found all over the world where you find muslims; so in many countries of Africa and South East Asia. The ud is one of the oldest instruments. In the Middle Ages, when it had only 4 strings, it travelled to the East to become the Chinese pipa and later the Japanese biwa. It arrived via the Moors in Europe and there the name [al 'ud] became "lute".

The back of the body of the ud is made of (10-25) quite thin ribs of wood, glued together, often in highly decorative patterns. The front of soft wood has one or (often) three rosettes. It has a short neck, with a fingerboard flush with the top and without frets. The violin-style friction pegs are inserted from both sides of the open pegbox, which is slightly bended and fixed to the neck under an angle.
It has nylon strings (original gut strings) in 6 double courses.

The uds made in Egypt and Damascus are usually very decorated, with delicate carved inserted wooden rosettes with around them inlay of mother-of-pearl and black and white coloured wood. The scratchplate and also the fingerboard is similarly decorated with coloured inlay. For white they use ivory, bone or nowadays white plastic. On some uds even the entire back is finished with mother-of-pearl inlay. The ud from Turkey is usually quite plain, often with one rosette, and looks more like a renaissance lute. In Iran the ud is called barbat.

The ud is played with a long thin (plastic) plectrum. The music (if written) is in western notation. The classical music is the taqsim : a kind of basic melodies/ scales on which the player improvises. The most famous ud player of recent times was the Iraqi : Munir Bachir.

For much more information about the ud see UdWeb, and TheOud.

Left: a highly decorated ud from Damascus, Right: a plain ud from Turkey. The example ud is probably from Egypt.

The qanbus is the lost lute of the Yemen. It is very difficult to find nowadays, as it is completely taken over by the Arabian ud.

It is similar to other small lute-like instruments in East Africa, with similar names like gabusi on the Comoros, kibangala (on the Swahili coast - see East-Africa), qabus in Saudi Arabia, end gabbus in Oman. It is replaced now almost everywhere by the much larger Arabian Ud. It may have been the eldest of the lutes.

The body and neck of the qanbus are made from one piece of wood, hollowed out. The lower part of the body is covered with hide. It has a sickle-shaped pegbox, with friction pegs on both sides. It has no frets. The strings run over a loose bridge on the skin to a quite large peg-like extension at the end of the body. It has 4-8 gut/nylon strings in 4 courses and is played with a plectrum.

This instrument has travelled with the Arab sailors (just like the Ud) all the way to South East Asia, where the gambus is still played on the island of Sarawak/Sabah, near Johore on the Malaysian mainland, and on some Indonesian islands.

I could not find any qanbus in the town of Sana'a in 1988, in spite of being with a Yemeni guide who played himself the ud - nobody had heared of it. The example instrument was specially made in 2004 for a cultural event in the French Embassy in Yemen.

The buzok (or bozok) is the long neck lute of the Middle East. It is mainly played in Syria, Libanon and Jordan.

The body is made from separate ribs, glued together in a lute shape. The neck is guitar-like, and has tied-on nylon frets. It has some 1/4 notes. The flat pegbox slopes slightly backwards, and has two slits for the tuning pegs, which are wooden T-shaped friction pegs; 3 on both sides. The fingerboard is made of white plastic. There is some wood inlay on the front, and a inserted carved wooden rosette in the soundhole.

The buzok has 3x2 metal strings, which run over a small loose wooden bridge to a piece of wood on the edge of the body.

It is played with a plectrum. Although usually an instrument for folk music, it is also used to play classical taqsim on it.

This is the most well known Turkish plucked instrument. It comes in several different sizes : the small cura saz, the baglama saz, the bigger divan saz and the biggest : the meydan saz. Nowadays you can also find an electric saz.

The body of the saz is carved from a block of wood, hollowed out with a round soundhole on the bottom side. It has a thin wooden front, with usually several stripes of different coloured wood on both sides of the front. The neck and pegbox are of one piece of wood. Most sizes (mentioned above) can have either a long or a short neck. It has tied-on frets of nylon string, some in 1/4 notes. On the left side is a groove along the edge, to ease the making of knots in the frets.

It has 8 strings in 3 courses of (steel) strings, the middle course with 2, both others with 3 strings. They run over a small wooden bridge to a piece of wood on the edge of the body. The T-shaped friction pegs are usually 4 on the front and 4 on the (left) side of the straigt pegbox.

The saz is played with a plectrum and mainly only the first course. Some players manage to tap with the ringfinger on the table while strumming (like flamenco players), to give a special extra rhythm effect.

For a different type of saz, see Azerbaijan.     top : baglama saz from Turkey, bottom : azeri saz from Azerbaijan

See for more information about the Turkish saz : Sazandb, and Erolparlak.

The çumbus (cumbus, pronounced "dzjoom-boos") is a banjo-like instrument from Turkey. The name comes from the name of the factory in Istanbul.

The body is made from a metal bowl, that looks like a frying-pan. The (plastic) skin can be tuned by screws around the rim, which also join the bowl to the front.
The wooden neck and the peghead is made from one piece of wood, and fixed with a large screw to the side of the bowl. By turning the screw the angle of the neck can be adjusted. There is a veneer layer as soundboard, and the çumbus is fretless.

The çumbus has 6x2 metal strings, and is tuned like an ud. The tuning machines are in two rows of 6 on both sides of the open peghead. The bridge has 3 round pieces glued to the feet, to avoid the high pressure of 12 metal strings damaging the skin. The strings are fixed to a metal stringholder at the edge of the rim.

Lots of information about the çumbus can be found on Rootsworld.com.

The Lavta is an instrument that once held the place that is today occupied by the oud in Ottoman urban music. It was frequently played at the meyhane (the forerunner to the Cafe Aman in Istanbul of the early 20th century) and it was particularly popular amongst Greeks and Armenians. From the early 20th century it was gradually replaced by the ud and by approximately 1930 it had all but completely vanished. Very few recordings have remained from that period, but some, like those by the great composer Tanburi Cemil Bey, are enough to give us a view of the high level of the performers of that time. From the early 80’s, in Turkey as well as in Greece there has been an effort for the revival of this instrument and slowly it is returning to the musical life of these two countries. (from Labyrint).

It is a kind of hybrid lute : the body looks much like the (Turkish) ud, with a guitar-like neck. Some lavta have a pegbox like the ud, others more like a guitar (or like a buzok or Greek laghouto). Notice the very peculiar fretting distances.

The stringing is with nylon strings in 4 courses : CC GG dd aa.

Playing is like an ud, with a long thin plectrum.

The Turkish tanbur (also tambur) is a classical Turkish lute with a very long thin neck. The name is also used for other long neck lutes in Iran and Central Asia.

The body is made of (20-25) thin wooden ribs in a very round shape. The front is very thin spruce, left unvarnished. The broomstick-like neck is fixed to the body, and continues into the peghead. There are 6 violin-type friction pegs, 4 are inserted from the front and 2 from the left side. The frets are tied-on nylon (in 5 windings per fret), with many in 1/4 note intervals.

The tanbur has 3x2 metal strings, which go over a loose bridge to holes in the edge of the body.

In spite of its long length it is not difficult to play, however orientation demands practice, by which the special arrangement of the 1/4 notes is helpful. Because of the long length it has a very deep sound. Usually only the first course is fingered. The tanbur is mainly used to play classical taqsim music on it. It is also used by the Kurds for folk music.

Besides this tanbur there exist in Turkey a similar instrument with a long neck, but with the body like a banjo. This instrument is called yayli tambur (see under), which is mainly used as a bowed instrument.

See (and hear) more at Tanbur (in Turkish).

This special Turkish tambur is a hybrid : a combination of the normal lute-like long neck tambur with the body like a banjo. This instrument is called yayli tambur (or yaylih tambur)

The body has the size of the çumbus, so a metal bowl with a skin on top; made by the factory of the çumbus.

The long neck is quite flat, and more guitar-like, but often just as long as the normal tanbur. It has a guitar-like peghead with machine tuners.

This yayli tambur is mainly used as a bowed instrument, but is smetimes plucked, that is why it is included here.

See (and hear) more at Tanbur (in Turkish).

The setar (also spelled sehtar) is the main plucked instrument from Iran. It is one of the very many long neck lutes from the area of the Middle East and Central Asia. They all have a quite thin neck made of walnut or apricot, and a body usually made of mulberry; either built of ribs, or carved from a single block.

The setar body is made of (7 to 10) ribs, glued together. The soundhole is usually a number of small holes drilled in a pattern in the front.

The neck is from a separate piece of wood, as is the front. The neck extents to the peghead, with 2 flat T-shaped pegs on both sides of the open peghead. The 24 frets are tied- on gut, with some in 1/4 note intervals.

The 4 strings are thin steel strings, in 3 courses (the name setar means "three strings"); the first two are single, the lower is double in octaves. The strings run over a small loose bridge, to holes in the edge of the body.
The tuning would be cc' g c'.

The setar is played with only the right index finger, strumming up and down. It gives a very sweet delicate sound. The music is mainly the classical Dastgah of Iran. It is also played by the Sufi mystics.

For more information about setar : see Setar.info, and for lots of information about all different Iranian instruments see Nay-nava.

The tar is another important long neck lute from Iran. A similar shaped and named instrument is used in the Caucasus states (see under Azerbaijan). This instrument
["tar " = "string"] appeared in its present form in the middle of the eighteenth century.

The body of a tar is a double-bowl (figure-of-eight) shape, carved from one piece of mulberry wood (some from a bookmatched pair of wood pieces). From the side the body is slanting to the end. The front is a thin membrane of stretched bladder.

The neck is glued to the body and a separate quite large, square pegbox. The 6 friction pegs (with big round knobs) are in three on both sides of the open pegbox. The frets are tied-on nylon or gut, with some in 1/4 note intervals.

The tar has 6 steel strings in 3 double courses (the lowest one in octave). They run over a loose bone bridge (with feet) on the skin, and are fixed to a string-holder at the edge of the body. Tuning would be cc' gg c'c'.

The tar is played with a special small brass plectrum (often held in a ball of wax) and is used for the classical music of Maqam and Dastgah of Iran.

For a nice video about making a TAR see Sound of Love.

	left : the tar body is slanting. above : the bone bridge, with carved curled up ends and a rope to keep the bridge on the right place on the skin. right : the square tuning head with rounded pegs and decorative hole.

tanboor

The Iranian tanboor (also spelled tanbur or tanbour ) has a narrow pear shaped body, normally made with (7-10) separate ribs, glued together. The body-shape looks much like the Turkmen dutor (see Central Asia), which is however always carved. It has a separate long neck with 14 tied-on gut frets. The soundboard is also made of mulberry wood and has a number of small holes burned in it in a pattern. It has 3 flat T-shaped pegs; 2 are inserted from the front, one from the left side.

The tanboor has three metal strings - the first course is double, on which the melody is played. The other one functions as a drone string with occasional fingering by the thumb. The strings run over a small loose bridge, to holes in the edge of the body.

The tanboor has a unique playing technique by which the strings are strummed with the 3 fingers of the right hand (with arpeggios upwards, and hardly any use of the thumb) to produce a very full and even tremolo, often to accompany Sufi singing.

The tanboor has always been considered a sacred instrument associated with the Kurdish Sufi music of Western Iran and it is believed that its repertoire is based on ancient Persian music.

dotar

In Iran several different types of dotar (or dutar) are used. All look similar, and have two strings (hence the name).

They differ slightly according to the region they are used, but of course also differ between different local crafsmen.

All dotars have the body carved from one block of mulberry wood to a thin shell, with a mulberry front (sometimes dried in an oven). In the soundboard some tiny soundholes are usually drilled in a pattern, or one small hole in the back. The body and neck are left unvarnished.

The neck is long and separate, often made of pear or plum wood. The tuning head is part of the neck and has two T-shaped tuning pegs, ususally one at the front and one at the left side.
The frets are tied-on nylon or gut strings (except the turkmen dotar, which has metal hoops). The two metal strings run over a small loose bridge to stringfasteners at the end of the body. Tuning is in 4ths or 5ths.

All dotars are played strumming/scraping/banging with the fingers in a specific pattern, and usually only the first string is fretted.
The dotar is mainly used in folk music, to accompany singing.

The chonguri is a long neck lute from Georgia, quite similar to the panduri (see under).

The back of the body is made from (7-10) ribs in such a way that the end forms a flat (standing) end block, which gives the chonguri its special shape. Some instruments have a body carved from one piece of wood. There are usually many soundholes drilled in the front, in a round pattern.

The neck and peghead are carved from one piece of wood. There is no separate fingerboard. Normally the chonguri is fretless, but the example had 6 frets of inlayed hard wood. The sickle-shaped peghead ends in a scroll.
There are 3 flat T-shaped friction pegs, one on the right, two on the left side of the closed peghead. The strings are fixed to the poles of the pegs.
A 4th string (the second one in fact, and called "zili") runs halfway over a tiny nut through a hole in the fretboard and is invisible fixed to a peg from halfway the side of the neck. At the nut the 3 other strings are equally divided, and so are the 4 strings on the bridge.

The 4 nylon strings (or better : 3 1/2) run over a loose wooden bridge to a single pin on the endblock. There are many ways to tune the chonguri, one could be :
D F d A, or f a f' c'.

The chonguri is mainly used to accompany singing, and because it is normally fretless, no chords are played.

See much more about all kinds of Georgian instruments at Hangebi.

The panduri is another popular plucked instrument from Georgia, and looks very similar to the chonguri (see above).

The main differences are : The panduri is smaller, it lacks the string halfway (so the panduri has just 3 nylon strings), and the panduri has frets.

The frets are usually made of wood inlayed in the front of the neck. On some there are 7 frets to an octave, but nowadays also chromatic fretting can be found.

The body of the panduri is usually more in the shape of a spade, so less with a parallel sided endblock. It is almost always made carved from one block of wood.

Tuning would be : e b a', or g a c', and playing is often strumming to accompany singing.

The tar of Iran can be found (in a slightly different shape) in the Caucasus states of Armenia and especially Azerbaijan. It is known as the Azeri tar or Caucasus tar or 11 string tar. It was developed from the Iranian tar around 1870 by Sadikhjan, a tar player from Azerbaijan. It is the national instrument of Azerbaijan, but it is also popular in Uzbekistan.

The body of the Azeri tar has a double-bowl (figure-of-eight) shape, carved from one piece of mulberry wood. It lacks the slanting sides of the Iranian tar, and the top half is rounded. The front is a thin membrane of stretched bladder.

The neck is glued to the body (which has a strengthening stick through it) and a separate (quite large) square pegbox. The friction pegs (with big round knobs) are on both sides of the open pegbox. The frets are tied-on nylon (4 windings), with some in 1/4 note intervals (based on 17 intervals in an octave). These fret intervals differ from the Iranian tar.

The Azeri tar has (like the Iranian tar) 6 steel strings in 3 double courses (the low one in octave). It has further one extra bass-string on the left side, on a raised nut, and usually 2 double resonance strings via small metal nuts halfway the neck. All these strings are running next to the main strings over the bridge and are fixed to a string-holder at the edge of the body.

Tuning could be : c'c' c"c" (G) (cc') gg c'c'. The strings without brackets are always in this tuning, the others may be changed for different modes.

The 4 thin resonance strings appear quite difficult to get in tune, mainly because they use for each double string one single string folded over and tuned via a loopstring with one (small) tuning peg - it is impossible to get both sides of the folded string at the same pitch. Probably players will therefore use only one string for each of the drones.

The tar is played with a special small brass plectrum and hold horizontally high across the chest.

	left : the body of the Azeri tar is not slanting. top : the wide bridge on the skin right : on the example instrument the stringholder, the bridge and the front of the peghead are made of plastic.

The tar from Iran is usually bigger than the Azeri tar, has a downwards slanting body, and no side strings. Also the top half of the skin is not round but triangular.

In Azerbaijan (next to Georgia and Armenia in the Caucasus) and in the north of Iran they use a saz that looks quite similar to the saz of Turkey, but is rather different. In Iran it is sometimes called gopuz, or ghopooz, but usually it is referred to as azeri saz.

The body of the azeri saz is quite deep and made of separate staves of usually mulberry wood (only rarely it is carved from a block of wood). The same wood is used for the front, which has two tiny soundholes, and lays on top of the body. The neck is a bit wider at the body join, and the pegbox is a straight extension of the neck. Some instruments may be highly decorated with inlay or with paintings, both on neck and body.

The frets are tied on nylon, with the highest ones extending over the top of the body, fixed to small nails on the sides - this is one of the differences from the Turkish saz. Another is the different number and placement of the frets, and the lack of a large soundhole. The strings run over a very small loose bridge to a long and decorative wooden stringholder at the edge of the body.

The number of strings is usually 9 (unlike the Turkish saz with 7), with the T-shaped pegs 5 on the front and 4 on the left side of the pegbox. The strings are made of metal and in 3 triple courses (although often the second course only has 2 strings). Tuning could be : d'd'd' gg c'c'c'.
right : the bottom of the deep body, with the decorative stringholder.

Playing style is holding the instruments rather high over the shoulder with a short strap. It is mainly used by the poet-singers of the Ashigh.

See more info on Ganja. Players holding their decorated saz high up. (from Iranian Music Encyclopedia)

In Dagestan (a Russian republic between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, just East of Georgia in the Caucasus) probably exist a special instrument, which is mentioned in both the Vertkov's Atlas SSSR, and in Buchner's book. It is called agach komus, or temur by the Avar people.

It seems a kind of slender guitar with 3 strings, with a body (carved from one block of wood) shaped like a spade and fitted with a trident-like spike at the lower end.

On YouTube this instrument can be found with names like Avar Pandur.

A picture of a modern version, from website Pekacar.

In Chechnya (a Russian republic West of Dagestan, just North-East of Georgia in the Caucasus) exists a special instrument, which can be found mainly on YOUTUBE and other video websites.
It has names like pondar, ponder, pandir, or pandur, or dechig pondur, adkhoku pondur or dakhch pandr, or merz ponder.

It seems an instrument like the Russian balalaika, with 3 metal strings, and made like a panduri from Georgia; that is : the body carved from one block of wood.

It seems mostly played to accompany singing.