Zurna

Zurna

Other names	Zurla,Surnay,Zournas, Zurnas,Zurma,Sornai, Lettish horn,Surla,Surna,Surlja,Tuiduk
Classification	Double reed
Related instruments
Sorna Rhaita Suona Sopila Shawm Birbynė Tuiduk

For other meanings, see Zurna (disambiguation)

For other spellings, see Surna (disambiguation)

The zurna (also called surnay, birbynė, lettish horn, surla, sornai, zournas, zurma) is a double reed outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul (bass drum) in Anatolian folk music. The name is from Turkish zurna, itself derived from Persian سرنای surnāy, composed of سور‎ sūr “banquet, feast” and نای‎ nāy “pipe, flute”. Organologically, the zurna differs from the ney, a quiet double-reed instrument with a plaintive sound compared to the loud, strident zurna. The ney has a reed as large as the body of the instrument compared to the small zurna reed. Tuiduk is a wind instrument (similar to surnai). Turkmen say that Adam, 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.

Characteristics and history

It has 5 or 7 finger holes above and one finger hole below. It is similar to the Mizmar. The Zurna is an Armenian instrument, made from the Armenian fruit tree Apricot. Zurnas are also used in the folk music of the countries in the region, especially Armenia, Turkey, Iraq, Greece, Assyria, Iran, Albania and the other Caucasian countries., and has now spread throughout China, and Eastern Europe.

The Zurna is most likely the immediate predecessor of the European Shawm as well as related to the Chinese Suona 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. However, during archeological excavations at one of the ancient settlements in Mingachvir, Azerbaijan, zurnas made of deer horn were found. According to researchers, these instruments date back 3,000 years.

Turkish Zurnas in an Ottoman band

Etymology and terminology

Oldest Turkish records suruna in Codex Cumanicus(CCM fol. 45a) < Persian word that is combined of two parts:

1. Sur = festival & red
2. Nay / Na = Reed / Pipe ". .

Terminology in Anatolia

Turkish terminology

1. Head and reed

• zaynak Ankara
• nazik Abdal
• ula Uludağ
• çatal Çankırı
• zinak Diyarbakır - Kurdish
• nezik Gaziantep
• fasla Kırklareli
• zaynak - Kurdish

2. Pipe

• metef Ankara
• metem Abdal
• çığırdan Uludağ
• demir Çankırı
• bülbülük Diyarbakır
• kanel Kırklareli
• metef - Kurdish
• 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

• Duduk
• Ney
• Sorna
• Rhaita
• Suona
• Kangling
• Sopila

In Turkey

Turkish people, whose roots are based on the military since their earlier time in the plains of Central Asia, have completely exceptional music and bands, with different characteristics from that of other nations with respect to meaning and importance, as well as music and performance. This particular band of the Turkish people is called a "mehteran" and its music "mehter musikisi".

The documents which show that the mehter musikisi expresses the feeling of Turkish soldiers go back to very early times. Literally, mehter also means "harmonica player", "tent maker" and "kavas". The word "mihter" in the Persian language means also the greatest and majestic. "Mehterhane" is the name that was used for the group of players before the acceptance of the military band by the Ottomans.

Mehter as Ottoman military music arose in the era of Osman Gazi and had been played in the wars and in in ceremonies customarily organized for various everyday purposes. There isn’t, however, any definite information about this organization until the era of Fatih. With Fatih, while the establishment of the empire was developing, a radical improvement began, as well, in the organization of the mehter.

Mehter tunes are found as far back as the 16th century. Nevertheless, it is known that Abdülkadir Meragi, the great Turkish music master, came to the Ottoman lands during the era of Yıldırım Beyazıd Han and composed some mehter melodies for the Turkish military. In that period, Nefiri Behram Ağa and Emir-i Hac also wrote some mehter tunes. Mehter bands played some compositions of Hasan Can and Gazi Giray Han of Kırım, as well. There was great development of Turkish music in the 17th century. In the mean time, mehters such as Zurnazenbaşı (head of the zurna players) İbrahim Ağa, Zurnazen Daği, Ahmed Çelebi from Edirne, Mehter Ahmed from Edirne also composed mehter tunes.

Evliya Çelebi provided important data about the mehterhane and mehter musikisi in the middle of the 17th century. “There are 300 artists in mehterhane-i Hümayun (the mehterhane of the palace) in Istanbul. These are quite precious and well paid people. There is additionally a mehter takımı of 40 people in Yedikule since there is a citadel. They are on duty three times a day, in other words they give three concerts, so that public listens to Turkish military music. This is a law of Fatih. Moreover, there are 1,000 mehter artists in addition to them in Istanbul. Their bands are in Eyüp Sultan, Kasımpaşa (kapdan-ı Deryalık, the center of [the] Turkish Naval Forces), Galata, Tophane, Rumelihisarı, Beykoz, Anadolu Hisarı, Üsküdar and Kız Kulesi. These mehter bands are on duty (i.e. give concerts) twice a day, in the daybreak and sunset hour.”

Mehterhane preserved its existence, changing continuously, until the Janissary corps was abolished. According to its final form, each one was composed of nine davuls, nine zurnas, nine nakkares, nine cymbals and nine horns. This band was called Dokuz katlı mehterhane (mehterhane composed of instruments, each instrument’s number is nine). Mehter had many improvements in its music and performance parallel to its organization and establishment. Furthermore, renovations in the areas of art and culture influenced the music also. The studies and compositions of the music teachers of the palace in the 17th century such as Hanende Recep Çelebi, Zurnazenbaşı İbrahim Ağa, Eyyubi Mehmet Çelebi, Solakzade Mehmed Hendemi (who was also a very famous historian) and Selim III, the sultan and one of the great music masters of 17th century, had influence on the renovation of the mehter musikisi and the growth of the repertoire.

This well known and traditional organization was annulled while the radical and western types of reforms took place in the Ottoman Empire in the era of Mahmut II(1808 - 1839). As European-style music shows became more commonplace with the impact of the reformist efforts of the palace and its environment, Mahmud II left the mehter aside and wanted a military band to be established in accordance with western precedents. Muzıka-i Humayun (the military band of the palace) began officially to function in 1831 and this was the beginning of an obscure period in the history of the mehter', which goes back at least 500 years.

Documents from ancient times to the present indicate that yurağ (zurna), sıbızgı (sipsili nefir, the horn), the horn of Hun (şahnay), burguv (the horn), kuğruv (kös), tümrük (davul) ve çeng (the cymbals) were the instruments in the tuğ band of the Turks in central Asia.

There were two types of zurna used by the Ottomans. One of them called the kabazurna having a low tone was played in the mehterhanes of the Ottomans and Kırım. 100 instrumentalists had played the kabazurna in the 17th century in Istanbul. The other, called the curazurna, small in size and high-pitched, was accompanied by the davul or the çifte na’ra. Evliya Çelebi wrote “There are boathouses belonging to the sovereigns. If the sultan wants to go to the new-palace or somewhere else, he travels at the back of a light galley under the precious dome on the jewel throne by watching the waterside houses, vineyards and orchards and shipyards on the side of Haliç with the accompaniment of only the curazurna and the çifte na’ra performing“, while he was talking about the garden of the shipyard in Istanbul. The curazurna as the small zurna was planned to be added to the military mehter takımı, which was intended to be established by Enver Paşa in 1917. Kabazurnas were made in Istanbul in the 16th century.

The musical instruments played in the mehterhane of the Ottomans could be classified as follows:

Wind instruments

The Kabazurna, the Cura zurna, the Horn, the Mehter pipe, the clarinet

Percussion instruments

The Kös, the Davul, the Nakkare, the Tabılbaz, the Def

'The Cymbals and the Rattles

The Cymbals, the Çoğan

The Mehter bands were divided structurally into squadrons having a commander called bölükbaşı. The number of these squadrons was equal to the number of the kinds of the musical instrument; squadrons of the zurna players, of the horn players, of the nakkare players, of the cymbal players, of the davul players, of the kös players, of the çoğan players.

Zurnazenler Bölüğü (the squadron of the zurna players) had a squadron master called the zurnazen who was also called the mehterbaşı (head of the mehter). Other members of the squadron were called zurnacı or zurnazen whose rank was that of a soldier. Zurnazens were dressed in a purple quilted cap wrapped with a white destar on their head, a white robe, a sash around the waist, a red shalwar, yellow Yemeni (light, flat heeled shoes) and a red biniş (cübbe).

The zurna is the most fundamental music instrument of the mehter band. It can play all the melodies in solo. Its sound is colorful, lively, pastoral, imposing, emotional and frisky. Sliding sounds as well as short and sharp sounds can be obtained. Many masters of this musical instrument, which is the most convenient instrument for virtuoso playing among Turkish instruments, such as zurnazenbaşı İbrahim Ağa and Daği Ahmed Çelebi from Edirne, whose names are still very well-known, come to mind. Moreover, there were great zurna masters among the Ottoman pashas such as zurnazen Mustafa Paşa.

External links

• zurna fingering
• Armenian Zurna By master Arthur Grigoryan
• Professional Zurna
• 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.

• Zurla
• Historical background of Zurna