The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of

plucked string instrument Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucki ...

s, long-necked lutes used in

Ottoman classical music Ottoman music ( tr, Osmanlı müziği) or Turkish classical music ( tr, Türk sanat müziği) is the tradition of classical music originating in the Ottoman Empire. Developed in the palace, major Ottoman cities, and Sufi lodges, it traditionally ...

Turkish folk music Turkish folk music (''Türk Halk Müziği'') is the traditional music of Turkish people living in Turkey influenced by the cultures of Anatolia and former territories in Europe and Asia. Its unique structure includes regional differences under ...

, Turkish Arabesque music,

Azerbaijani music Azerbaijani music ( Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan musiqisi) is the musical tradition of the Azerbaijani people from Azerbaijan Republic. Azerbaijani music has evolved under the badge of monody, producing rhythmically diverse melodies.Энциклоп� ...

Kurdish music Kurdish music refers to music performed in the Kurdish languages and Zaza-Gorani languages. The earliest study of Kurdish music was initiated by the renowned Armenian priest and composer Komitas in 1903, when he published his work ''" Chansons ku ...

Armenian music The music of Armenia ( hy, հայկական երաժշտություն ''haykakan yerazhshtut’yun'') has its origins in the Armenian highlands, dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE, and is a long-standing musical tradition that encompasse ...

and in parts of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and the

Balkan countries The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...

. ''Bağlama'' ( tr, bağlama) is Turkish from ''bağlamak'', "to tie". It is . ''Saz'' ( fa, ساز) means "to make; to compose" in Persian. It is . According to ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', "the terms 'bağlama' and 'saz' are used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey." Like the Western

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

and the Middle-Eastern

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

, it has a deep round back, but a much longer neck. It can be played with a

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

or with a

fingerpicking Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

style known as ''şelpe''. In the

music of Greece The music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek music separates into two parts: Greek traditional music and Byzantine music. These compositions have existed for millennia: they originated in the Byzantine period and Greek ...

the name ''

baglamas The baglamas ( el, μπαγλαμάς) (plural '' baglamades'') or baglamadaki (), a long necked bowl-lute, is a plucked string instrument used in Greek music; it is a smaller version of the bouzouki pitched an octave higher (nominally D-A-D ...

'' ( el, μπαγλαμάς) is given to a treble

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

, a related instrument. The Turkish settlement of Anatolia from the late eleventh century onward saw the introduction of a two-string Turkmen

dutar The ''dutar'' (also ''Dotara, dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and ...

, which was played in some areas of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

until recent times.

Turkish bağlama

The most commonly used string folk instrument in

, the bağlama has seven strings divided into courses of two, two and three. It can be tuned in various ways and takes different names according to region and size: Bağlama, Divan Sazı, Bozuk, Çöğür, Kopuz Irızva, Cura, Tambura, etc. The cura is the smallest member of the bağlama family: larger than the cura is the tambura, tuned an octave lower. The Divan sazı, the largest instrument in the family, is tuned one octave lower still. A bağlama has three main parts, the bowl (called ''tekne''), made from mulberry wood or juniper, beech, spruce or walnut, the spruce sound board (''göğüs'') and a

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

of beech or juniper (''sap''). The tuning pegs are known as ''burgu'' (literally

screw A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...

). Frets are tied to the ''sap'' with fishing line, which allows them to be adjusted. The bağlama is usually played with a ''mızrap'' or ''tezene'' (similar to a

guitar pick A guitar pick (American English) is a plectrum used for guitars. Picks are generally made of one uniform material—such as some kind of plastic (nylon, Delrin, celluloid), rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, tagua, or stone. They ...

) made from cherrywood bark or plastic. In some regions, it is played with the fingers in a style known as ''Şelpe'' or ''Şerpe''. There are also electric bağlamas, which can be connected to an amplifier. These can have either single or double pickups.

Azerbaijani saz

The Azerbaijani saz was mainly used by Ashiqs. The art of Azerbaijani Ashiqs combines poetry, storytelling, dance and vocal and instrumental music into a traditional performance art. This art is one of the symbols of

Azerbaijani culture Azerbaijani culture may refer to: Regions *Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ( az, Azərbaycan mədəniyyəti) combines a diverse and heterogeneous set of elements which developed under the influence of Turkic, Iranic and Caucas ...

and considered an emblem of national identity and the guardian of

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. Characterized by the accompaniment of the

kopuz The komuz or qomuz ( ky, комуз , az, Qopuz, tr, Kopuz) is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments, the Mongolian tovshuur, and the lute. The instrument can ...

, a stringed musical instrument, the classical repertoire of Azerbaijani Ashiqs includes 200 songs, 150 literary-musical compositions known as

dastan Dastan ( fa, داستان ''dâstân'', meaning "story" or "tale") is an ornate form of oral history from Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. A dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from ...

s, nearly 2,000 poems and numerous stories. Since 2009 the art of Azerbaijani Ashiqs has been inscribed on the

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity UNESCO established its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage with the aim of ensuring better protection of important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.Compare: This list is published by the Intergove ...

The kopuz and the bağlama

The bağlama is a synthesis of historical musical instruments in Central Asia and pre-Turkish

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. It is partly descended from the Turkic

komuz The komuz or qomuz ( ky, комуз , az, Qopuz, tr, Kopuz) is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments, the Mongolian tovshuur, and the lute. The instrument can be f ...

. The ''kopuz'', or ''komuz'', differs from the bağlama in that it has a leather-covered body and two or three strings made of sheep gut, wolf gut, or horsehair. It is played with the fingers rather than a plectrum and has a fingerboard without frets. ''Bağlama'' literally translates as "something that is tied up", probably a reference to the tied-on frets of the instrument. The word bağlama is first used in 18th-century texts. The French traveler Jean Benjamin de Laborde, who visited

during that century, recorded that "the bağlama or tambura is in form exactly like the cogur, but smaller." The Çoğur/Çöğur was in many ways a transitional Instrument between old Komuz and new Bağlama style and has a body shape similar to the Instrument called panduri in Georgia. According to the historian Hammer, metal strings were first used on a type of komuz with a long fingerboard known as the ''kolca kopuz'' in 15th-century Anatolia. This was the first step in the emergence of the çöğür (cogur), a transitional instrument between the komuz and the bağlama. According to 17th-century writer

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

, the cogur was first made in the city of

Kütahya Kütahya () (historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion, Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is inhabited by some 578,640 people (2022 estimate) ...

in western Turkey. To take the strain of the metal strings the leather body was replaced with wood, the fingerboard was lengthened and frets were introduced. Instead of five hair strings there were now twelve metal strings arranged in four groups of three. Today, the cogur is smaller than a medium-size bağlama.

Bağlama (Saz) family

Bağlama tunings

There are three string groups, or courses, on the bağlama, with strings double or tripled. These string groups can be tuned in a variety of ways, known as ''düzen'' (literally, "order"). For the ''bağlama düzeni'', the most common tuning, the courses are tuned from top downward, A-G-D. Some other ''düzen''s are ''Kara Düzen'' (C-G-D), ''Misket Düzeni'' (A-D-F#), ''Müstezat'' (A-D-F), ''Abdal Düzeni'', and ''Rast Düzeni''. * Bağlama düzeni (La, Sol, Re) (A, G, D) * Bozuk düzen, kara düzen (Sol, Re, La) (G, D, A) * Misket düzeni (Fa#, Re, La) (F#, D, A) * Fa müstezat düzeni (Fa, Re, La) (F, D, A) * Abdal düzeni (La, La, Sol) (A, A, G) * Zurna düzeni (Re, Re, La) (D, D, A) * Do müstezat düzeni (Sol, Do, La) (G, C, A) * Aşık düzeni (La (bottom string set), Re (middle string set), Mi (Top string set) (A, D, E)

Bağlama scale

The

musical scale In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Often, especially in the ...

of the bağlama differs from that of many western instruments – such as the guitar – in that it features ratios that are close to

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

s. The traditional ratios for bağlama frets are listed by Yalçın Tura: *Fret 1: 18/17 *Fret 2: 12/11 *Fret 3: 9/8 *Fret 4: 81/68 *Fret 5: 27/22 *Fret 6: 81/64 *Fret 7: 4/3 *Fret 8: 24/17 *Fret 9: 16/11 *Fret 10: 3/2 *Fret 11: 27/17 *Fret 12: 18/11 *Fret 13: 27/16 *Fret 14: 16/9 *Fret 15: 32/17 *Fret 16: 64/33 *Fret 17: 2/1 However, as confirmed by Okan Öztürk, instrument makers now often set frets on the bağlama with the aid of fret calculators and tuners based on the 24-tone equal temperament.

Notable performers

Festival des Vieilles Charrues 2018 - Altin Gün - 011

Pir Sultan Abdal Pir Sultan Abdal (born Haydar) is an important religious figure in Alevism, who is thought to be of Turkmen origin and to have been born in the village of Banaz in present-day Sivas Province, Turkey. He is considered legendary among his follower ...

Karacaoğlan Karacaoğlan was a 17th-century Anatolian Turkish folk poet and ashik. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but it is widely accepted that he was born around 1606 and died around 1680. He lived around the city of Mut near Mersin. His t ...

Dadaloğlu Dadaloğlu (Veli) (1785 ?–1868 ?) was a Turkish Ottoman (bard), a folk poet-singer, known as ''Ozan''. Background Two distinct literatures existed in the Ottoman Empire. Literature of the palace, so called divan literature used Ottoman Turk ...

Gevheri Gevheri was a Turkish folk poet who is estimated to have lived in the 17th century. In 1998, In the work titled ''"Gevherî Divanı"'', published by Şükrü Elçin, 945 poems of the poet included in the cönks and manuscripts were brought t ...

Aşık Veysel Aşık is Turkish for Ashik, a traditional musician and troubadour Aşık is a Turkish name. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Aşık Çelebi (1520–1572), Ottoman biographer, poet, and translator * Âşık İbretî (1920–1976) ...

(1894–1973) *

Muharrem Ertaş Muharrem Ertaş (1913 – 3 December 1984) was a Turkish folk music singer and a virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument bağlama. He was one of the most important members of the Bozlak genre. Early life He was born in 1913 in the village ...

(1913–1984) *

Neşet Ertaş Neşet Ertaş (1938 – 25 September 2012) was a Turkish folk music singer, lyricist, modern ashik and virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument the bağlama. His profession in Turkish is known as ''halk ozanı'', which literally means ...

(1938–2012) * Ali Ekber Çiçek (1935–2006) *

Ruhi Su Mehmet Ruhi Su (1912 – 20 September 1985) was a Turkish opera singer, Turkish folk singer and saz virtuoso of probable Armenian

(1915-1982) *

Hasret Gültekin Hasret Şükrü Gültekin (1 May 1971–2 July 1993) was a Kurdish- Turkish musician and poet. He was murdered in the Sivas massacre, along with 34 other people in the Sivas Province of Turkey when an Islamist mob set fire to the Madımak Hotel. He ...

(1971-1993) *

Ahmet Kaya Ahmet Kaya (28 October 1957 – 16 November 2000) was a Turkish– Kurdish folk singer. Kaya was persecuted by Turkish nationalist celebrities and authorities. Kaya left Turkey in an act of self- exile, and moved to France, where he would sho ...

(1957-2000) *

Aşık Mahzuni Şerif Şerif Cırık, popularly known as Aşık Mahsuni Şerif, was a Turkish ashik, folk musician, composer, poet, and author.

(1940-2002) *

Musa Eroğlu Musa Eroğlu (born 1946) is a Turkish folk musician and bağlama virtuoso. He was born in the Mut county district of Mersin. He is a Tahtacı. He completed his secondary education in Mut. He then started to perform Turkish folk dance and music. I ...

Erdal Erzincan Erdal Erzincan (born 1971) is a Turkish Alevi folk music musician, composer, and singer. In 1981, he moved to Istanbul and studied bağlama at the Arif Sağ music school in 1985. Since 1989, he has been studying music at Istanbul Technical Univer ...

* Erdinç Ecevit Yıldız *

Orhan Gencebay Orhan Gencebay (born Orhan Kencebay, 4 August 1944) is a Turkish musician, bağlama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, music producer, music director, and actor. Gencebay was born in the coastal town of Samsun on 4 August 1944. He is of Crim ...

Güler Duman Güler Duman (born June 25, 1967) is a Turkish singer, songwriter, composer, TV host and music teacher. She concentrates on Turkish folk music. Early life Güler Duman was born in Istanbul on June 30, 1967. Originally, Erzurum was Aşkale. When ...

Ahmet Koç Ahmet Koç is a bağlama artist from Turkey. Before the "Paradoks" He appeared and played bağlama with the female singer Şebnem Paker at Eurovision Song Contest 1997, in Dublin, where they represented Turkey and came in 3rd place. His prev ...

Erkan Oğur Erkan Oğur (pronounced ) (born April 17, 1954) is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976.Martinelli, op. cit.Unfretted, op. cit. A composer, he has influenced many musicians wit ...

Arif Sağ Arif Sağ (born 1945) is a Turkish singer, bağlama virtuoso, and leading figure in modern Turkish folk music. A former academic, he was also a member of the Turkish parliament from 1987 to 1991. Early years Arif Sağ was born to a miller at Dal ...

Muhlis Akarsu __NOTOC__ Muhlis Akarsu (20 February 1948 – 2 July 1993) was a Turkish folk singer and Bağlama player. He was killed, along with 34 others, during the Sivas massacre in Sivas, Turkey when a group of Islamist rioters set fire to the hotel ...

(1948-1993) *

Nesimi Çimen __NOTOC__ Nesimi Çimen (1931 – 2 July 1993) was a Turkish folk singer and poet. He was killed, along with 34 others, during the Sivas massacre in Sivas, Turkey when a group of Islamist rioters set fire to the hotel where the victims had g ...

(1931-1993) * Cahit Berkay

References

External links

Article about documentary featuring the saz: "From Berlin to Khorasan: seeking the roots of saz music"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baglama Azerbaijani musical instruments Turkish folk music instruments Necked bowl lutes Armenian musical instruments Bosnian musical instruments Macedonian musical instruments Turkmen musical instruments Turkish words and phrases Turkish inventions Kurdish musical instruments