Badakhshani Instruments
Badakhshani Rubab
The Badakhshani Rubab is a long-necked partially fretted lute that has five main strings and six sympathetic strings; the lower part of the sound-chamber is covered by animal skin. Usually, it serves as a melodic instrument in the Badakhshan Ensemble.
Daf
The daf is a frame drumthat is in different sizes and it is a common percussion instrument in most countries of the Middle East and Central Asia . In Badakhshan, the daf is the principal percussion instrument and both men and women play it. The daf accompanies religious singing as well as folk songs and dances.
Ghijak
The ghijak is the only bowed string instrument in Badakhshan. Its body is made of a tin can, which serves as a sound-chamber and resonates. The number of strings on the ghijak varies between two, three, or four metal strings.
Pamiri Rubab
The Pamiri rubab is anunfretted long-necked lute that has six gut or nylon strings. The sound-chamber of the Pamiri Rubab is also covered by animal skin.
Pamiri Tanbur
The Pamiri tanbur is a long-necked partially fretted lute that has three melody strings and four or six sympathetic strings; the lower part of the sound-chamber is covered by animal skin.
Setâr
The Setâr is a long-necked wood lute with the moveable frets, and has three steel melody strings, and a variable number of sympathetic strings.
Relation Between Musical Concepts and Instruments in Badakhshan
Quarter tone scale on C ascending and descending.
The long neck is a main feature of Badakhshani string instruments. One reason for these instruments to be built with a long neck is that it proves more efficient in playing the quarter tones of the scales common in Badakhshani music as well as in other musical styles in the region. Central Asian music has a strong relation to other styles in the Middle East that are also rooted in traditions stemming from the centuries-old Islam, the main religion in the region (Levin 1996: 11). One similarity in the musical genres of Central Asia and the Middle East is the presence of quarter tones in the scales. For the purpose of notation, the Arabic music scale, for example, was divided into twenty-four equal quarter tones (Marcus 1993). In this notation system, all notes in a maqam scale are part a round quarter tone scale. In Central Asia, including Badakhshan, similar kinds of maqam scales are used.
Because of the presence of so many tones in the scales, the long neck of the string instruments proves appropriate and more efficient in playing the complex maqams. The long neck is a common feature of the string instruments in the Middle East and Central Asia and the string instruments of Badakhshan are no exclusion to that trend. The distance of a whole tone is longer on long-neck instruments than it is on short-neck instruments. For example, the distance of the whole tone on the violin is the width of a finger, but on the cello, the distance of the whole tone is the width of three fingers. Therefore, the quarter tone can be more easily located on cello rather than on violin. |
The performance of the maqams is closely related to the specific way the instruments are built. Equal-tempered instruments such as the piano are designed to perform the twelve tones of the chromatic scale and do not include quarter tones. As such, those instruments cannot faithfully reproduce the microtonal details of the maqam scales. Fretless string instruments enable microtonal control. If someone plays a fretted instrument with steel strings, for example, they can bend the string to perform the microtone. Of course, the extent to which a string can be bent is determined by the length of the string. A long string is easier to bend than a short one. Therefore, the long neck of a Central Asian fretted string instruments can also affect the result of bending to some extent.
The materials used for the instruments and the various ways in which the instruments are combined in performances of Badakhshani music reflect the nature of the Badakhshani people and their lifestyle and freedom in music making. All instruments are built with natural materials, such as animal skin and wood, which reflects the people’s connection to nature and to the lifestyle of the people who play them. The music of the Badakhshanis aims to entertain, to express their emotion, joy of life, as well as spirituality. The purpose of creating music is much more pure and simple than some musicians in the West who compose music simply to show off their virtuosity. The Badakhshan Ensemble is very different from a traditional western ensemble. There is not a fixed rule for what instruments can play together – instruments can be used in any combinations. Badakhshani music reflects the lifestyle and beliefs of the people living in that region.
The materials used for the instruments and the various ways in which the instruments are combined in performances of Badakhshani music reflect the nature of the Badakhshani people and their lifestyle and freedom in music making. All instruments are built with natural materials, such as animal skin and wood, which reflects the people’s connection to nature and to the lifestyle of the people who play them. The music of the Badakhshanis aims to entertain, to express their emotion, joy of life, as well as spirituality. The purpose of creating music is much more pure and simple than some musicians in the West who compose music simply to show off their virtuosity. The Badakhshan Ensemble is very different from a traditional western ensemble. There is not a fixed rule for what instruments can play together – instruments can be used in any combinations. Badakhshani music reflects the lifestyle and beliefs of the people living in that region.
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References
The Aga Khan Music Initiative. “Badakhshan ensemble: Song and Dance from the Pamir Mountains,” Aga Khan Development Network, http://www.akdn.org/aktc_music_badakshan.asp (accessed May 28, 2012).
The Aga Khan Music Initiative. “Instrument Glossary: Badakhshan Ensemble,” Aga Khan Development Network, http://www.akdn.org/aktc_music_instrument.asp?category=Badakhshan Ensemble (accessed May 28, 2012).
Levin, Theodore. The hundred Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Marcus, Scott. “The Interface between Theory and Practice: Intonation in Arab Music” Asian Music 24, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1993), pp. 39-58
http://www.jstor.org/stable/834466(accessed June 13, 2012)
Marcus, Scott. "Volume 6: The Middle East," The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Graland Press, 2002.
References
The Aga Khan Music Initiative. “Instrument Glossary: Badakhshan Ensemble,” Aga Khan Development Network, http://www.akdn.org/aktc_music_instrument.asp?category=Badakhshan Ensemble (accessed May 28, 2012).
Levin, Theodore. The hundred Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Marcus, Scott. “The Interface between Theory and Practice: Intonation in Arab Music” Asian Music 24, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1993), pp. 39-58
http://www.jstor.org/stable/834466(accessed June 13, 2012)
Marcus, Scott. "Volume 6: The Middle East," The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Graland Press, 2002.