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The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in
Persian music Persian music may refer to various types of the music of Persia/Iran or other Persian-speaking countries: * Persian traditional music * Persian ritual music *Persian pop music * Persian symphonic music * Persian piano music See also *Music of Ira ...
and
Arabic music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...
. In some of these
musical traditions Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the na ...
, it is the only
wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...
used. The ney has been played continually for 4,500–5,000 years in ancient Egypt, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use. The Egyptian ney consists of a hollow cylinder with finger-holes. Sometimes a
brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
, horn, or plastic
mouthpiece Mouthpiece may refer to: * The part of an object which comes near or in contact with one's mouth or nose during use ** Mouthpiece (smoking pipe) or cigarette holder ** Mouthpiece (telephone handset) ** Mouthpiece (woodwind), a component of a woodw ...
is placed at the top to protect the wood from damage, and to provide a sharper and more durable edge to blow on. The ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or
giant reed ''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' an ...
with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. Modern neys may instead be made of
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
or
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
tubing. The pitch of the ney varies depending on the region and the finger arrangement. A highly skilled ney player, called ''neyzen'', can reach more than three
octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
s, though it is more common to have several "helper" neys to cover different pitch ranges or to facilitate playing technically difficult passages in other dastgahs or maqams. In
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
, this instrument is called "fluier", the word ''nai''
nai
' in '' Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii române'',
Academia Română The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998.
is applied to a curved pan flute while an end-blown flute resembling the Persian ney is referred to as caval.
caval
' in '' Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii române'',
Academia Română The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998.


Typology

The typical
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
ney has six holes, one of which is on the back. Egyptian and Turkish neys normally have seven holes, six in front and one thumb-hole in the back. The interval between the holes is a semitone, although
microtones Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of tw ...
(and broader pitch inflections) are achieved via partial hole-covering, changes of embouchure, or positioning and blowing angle. Microtonal inflection is common and crucial to various traditions of taqsim (improvisation in the same
scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...
before a piece is played). Neys are constructed in various keys. In the
Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
and Arabic system, there are seven common ranges: the longest and lowest-pitched is the Rast which is roughly equivalent to C in the Western
equal temperament An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, wh ...
system, followed by the Dukah in D, the Busalik in E, the Jaharka in F, the Nawa in G, the Hussayni in A, and the Ajam in B (or B♭), with the Dukah Ney being the most common. Advanced players will typically own a set of several neys in various keys, although it is possible (albeit difficult) to play fully chromatically on any instrument. A slight exception to this rule is found in the extreme lowest range of the instrument, where the fingering becomes quite complex and the transition from the first
octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
(
fundamental Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...
pitches) to the second is rather awkward.


Kargı Düdük

Gargy-tuyduk (Karghy tuiduk) is a long
reed flute The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kno ...
whose origin, according to legend, is connected with
Alexander of Macedonia Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to th ...
, and a similar instrument existed in ancient
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
. Kargı in Turkish means reed ('' Arundo donax'', also known as Giant reed). The sound of the gargy-tuyduk has much in common with the two-voiced kargyra. During the playing of the gargy-tuyduk the melody is clearly heard, while the lower droning sound is barely audible. The allay epic songs have been described by the Turkologist N. Baskakov who divides them into three main types: *a) Kutilep kayla, in which the second sound is a light drone. *b) Sygyrtzip kayla, with a second whistling sound like the sound of a flute. *c) Kargyrlap kayla, in which the second sound can be defined as hissing. The sound of the Turkmen gargy-tuyduk is most like the Altay Kargyrkip kayla. The garg-tuyduk can have six finger holes and a length of 780 mm or five finger holes and a length of 550 mm. The range of the garg-tuyduk includes three registers: *1) The lowest register – "non-working" – is not used during the playing of a melody. *2) The same as on the "non-working" register but an octave higher. *3) High register from mi of the second octave to ti.


The Pamiri Nay

The Pamiri nay is a
transverse flute A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body length. Transverse flutes include the Western concert flute ...
made of wood or, in Eastern
Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...
, eagle bone. Although the name is similar to the Arabic end-blown nay, it might well be that this side-blown flute is more related to
Chinese flutes Chinese flutes come in various types. They include Transverse Flutes: * Dizi (and its varieties such as the qudi and bangdi; primary transverse flutes, usually made of bamboo and distinctively has a buzzing membrane) *Koudi (a small center-blo ...
such as the dizi, perhaps through a
Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
link. It is used for solo melodies as well as with orchestras and for vocal accompaniment. One of the main uses of the nay is for the most original form of the traditional performance ‘falaki’. These are brief melodic sessions which can express complaints against destiny, the injustice of heaven or exile to distant places, and sentiments such as the sorrow of a mother separated from her daughter, the sorrow of a lover torn from her/his beloved, etc.


Other forms with similar names

The ney (nej) of
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
,
Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
, and
Karakalpakstan Karakalpakstan, / officially the Republic of Karakalpakstan, / is an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. It occupies the whole northwestern part of Uzbekistan. The capital is Nukus (' / ). The Republic of Karakalpakstan has an area of , and ...
is a
transverse flute A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body length. Transverse flutes include the Western concert flute ...
that can be made of different materials, often indicated by a prefix in the name. The agach-nai is a wooden flute, the garau-nai a
bamboo flute The bamboo flute, especially the bone flute, is one of the oldest musical instruments known. Examples of Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest flutes currently kno ...
, the misnai a flute made of sheet iron and the brindgzhi-nai a brass flute. The Romanian pan flute nai consists of at least 20 to over 30 pipes closed at the bottom, which are connected to each other in a slight arc.


See also

* Turkish ney * Classical Turkish Music *
Tambin The ''tambin'' (also ''sereendu'', ''fulannu'' or ''Fula flute'') is a diagonal diatonic flute without a bell, made from a conical vine, with three finger-holes and a rectangular embouchure with two wings on either side. It is considered the nation ...
, a similar sounding flute used in
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
. * Tsuur /
Choor The tsuur (Mongolian), choor (Kyrgyz) or chuur (Tuvan) is an end-blown flute of varying lengths that is common among Inner Asian pastoralists. It is similar to the sybyzgy (Kazakh) and kurai (Bashkir). In western Mongolia Mongolia; Mongo ...
* Kawala, a similar instrument used in Arabic music *
Persian traditional music Persian traditional music or Iranian traditional music, also known as Persian classical music or Iranian classical music, refers to the classical music of Iran (also known as ''Persia''). It consists of characteristics developed through the coun ...
*
Arabic Music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...
* Music of Iran *
Washint Washint (Amharic: ዋሽንት) is an end-blown wooden flute originally used in Ethiopia. Traditionally, Amharic musicians would pass on their oral history through song accompanied by the ''washint'' as well as the krar, a six stringed lyre, and ...
* Dilli Ney


References


General bibliography

*Effat, Mahmoud (2005). ''Beginner's Guide to the Nay''. Translated by Jon Friesen; originally published in Arabic in 1968. Pitchphork Music. . *Marwan Hassan (2010). ''Kawala & Nay: Die Ur-Flöten der Menschheit: Bauen, stimmen, pflegen und spielen''. erman: ''Explaining How to Build and Play the Kawala, Saluang, or Ghab and Ney-Flute''


External links

* {{Authority control Egyptian musical instruments Arabic musical instruments Turkish musical instruments End-blown flutes Persian musical instruments Middle Eastern music Romanian musical instruments Moldovan musical instruments Ancient Egyptian musical instruments Sufi music Iranian inventions Bamboo flutes