The ney ( ; ) is an

end-blown flute thumb , Notched flute, showing U-shaped notch in the instrument’s rim. The end-blown flute (also called an edge-blown flute or rim-blown flute) is a woodwind instrument played by directing an airstream against the sharp edge of the upper en ...

that figures prominently in traditional

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 ...

, Turkish,

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

, and

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 year ...

music. In some of these musical traditions, 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 pitch ...

used. The ney has been played for over 4,500 years, dating back to

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use. The ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or giant reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. The Arabic ney is played without any

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 wood ...

. This contrasts with the Turkish ney that sometimes have a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

, or plastic mouthpiece which is placed at the top to protect the wood, to produce a steeper sound, and protect it from damage, with a better edge to blow on. Modern neys may instead be made of

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

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 (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

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, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998. is applied to a curved

pan flute A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

while an end-blown flute resembling the Persian ney is referred to as caval.
caval
' in '' Dicţionarul explicativ al limbii române'', Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998.

Typology

The typical

ney has six holes, one of which is on the back. Arabic and

Turkish ney The Turkish ney is an end-blown flute made of reed, an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman variation on the ancient ney. Together with the Turkish tanbur lute and Turkish kemençe fiddle are considered the most typical instruments of Ottoman classical mus ...

s normally have seven holes, six in front and one thumb-hole in the back. The interval between the holes ranges from a

semitone A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between ...

to three

quarter tones A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval (music), interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a major second, whole tone. Quarter tones divide t ...

, although microtones (and broader pitch inflections) are achieved via partial hole-covering, changes of

embouchure Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece (woodwind), mouthpiece of a woodwind or brass instrument. The word is of French lan ...

, or positioning and blowing angle. Microtonal inflection is common and crucial to various traditions of

taqsim ''Taqsim'' ( / ALA-LC: ''taqsīm'', , , ) is a melodic musical improvisation that usually precedes the performance of a traditional Arabic, Kurdish, Greek, Middle Eastern, Iranian, Azerbaijani or Turkish musical composition. ''Taqsim'' tradi ...

(improvisation in the same scale before a piece is played). Neys are constructed in various keys. In the

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 Musical tuning#Tuning systems, tuning system that approximates Just intonation, just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into steps such that the ratio of the frequency, frequencie ...

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 Key, Keys, The Key or The Keys may refer to: Common uses * Key (cryptography), a piece of information needed to encode or decode a message * Key (instrument), a component of a musical instrument * Key (lock), a device used to operate a lock * ...

, 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

( fundamental pitches) to the second is rather awkward.

Kargı düdük

The ''kargı düdük'' is a long reed flute whose origin, according to legend, is connected with Alexander of Macedonia, and a similar instrument existed in ancient Egypt. Kargı in Turkish means reed (''

Arundo donax ''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'' a ...

'', 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 Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and the Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative c ...

N. Baskakov who divides them into three main types: *Kutilep kayla: the second sound is a light drone. *Sygyrtzip kayla: with a second whistling sound like the sound of a flute. *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: *The lowest register – "non-working" – is not used during the playing of a melody. *The same as on the "non-working" register but an octave higher. *High register from mi of the second octave to ti.

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.Powell, A. (2001). Transverse flute. Grove Music Online. Retrieved 6 Feb. 2024 The player blows across the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to ...

made of wood or, in eastern

Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising the Wakhan Corridor in northeast Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic ...

, 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 Flutes made in China come in a variety of different types: Transverse flutes: *dizi (instrument), Dizi (and its varieties such as the dizi (instrument), qudi and dizi (instrument), bangdi; primary transverse flutes, usually made of bamboo and di ...

such as the dizi—perhaps via a

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

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 of

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

and

Karakalpakstan Karakalpakstan, officially the Republic of Karakalpakstan, is an autonomous republic and part of Uzbekistan. It spans the northwestern portion of Uzbekistan. Its capital is Nukus (' / ). Karakalpakstan has an area of , and has a population of a ...

is a

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 flutes, Paleolithic bone flutes have survived for more than 40,000 years, to be discovered by archaeologists. While the oldest f ...

, 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.

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

*
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