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 string (music), 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 ...

s and long-necked lutes used in

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including

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and

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. It is commonly used by

ashiks An ashik (; ) or ashugh (; ka, :ka:აშუღი, აშუღი) is traditionally a List of oral repositories, singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as ''Azeri hikaye, hikaye' ...

Name

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 t ...

'', "the terms 'bağlama' and 'saz' are used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey. 'Saz' is generally used interchangeably with 'enstrüman' (instrument) and it is used to refer single or group of musical instruments like 'üflemeli sazlar' (

wind instruments 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 pitch ...

Bağlama scale

The

musical scale In music theory, a scale is "any consecutive series of notes that form a progression between one note and its octave", typically by order of pitch or fundamental frequency. The word "scale" originates from the Latin ''scala'', which literal ...

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 (orally, 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. The frets include the 12 tones within 12-tone equal temperament, along with 5 more. This means that 12 tone songs can be played on the Bağlama.

Notable performers

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) *

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. ...

(1945–) *

Orhan Gencebay Orhan Gencebay (born 4 August 1944) is a Turkish people, Turkish musician, bağlama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, record producer, music producer, music director, and actor. Gencebay was born in the coastal town of Samsun on 4 August 194 ...

Arif Sağ Arif Sağ (born 1946) 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 D ...

(1946–) * Nida Tüfekçi *

Orhan Ölmez Orhan Ölmez (born May 1, 1978)Aşık Mahzuni Şerif Şerif Cırık, popularly known as Aşık Mahsuni Şerif, was a Turkish ashik, folk musician, composer, poet, and author.

(1940–2002) *

Nuray Hafiftaş Nuray Hafiftaş (2 November 1964 – 14 February 2018) was a Turkish folk musician, composer, folk poet, lyricist, music director, and bağlama virtuoso of Karapapakh ancestry and Azerbaijan Turkish origin. Early years Soon after her bir ...

(1964–2018)

References

External links

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

Name

Bağlama scale

Notable performers

See also

References

External links