Bağlama: Iran musical instrument

The bağlama also called the bağlamak in the Turkish language meaning “to tie” is a string musical instrument that is said to be shared by so many cultures in the eastern Mediterranean region, the near East region and in the central Asia region.

source of picture: orientika.com

It can also be called saz which is a Persian language that means set or kit. The word saz is known to have been a reference word for a family of plucked string instruments, also long-necked lutes that are used in Ottoman classical music, Kurdish music, and Azeri music Turkish music and in some significant parts of Syria and Iraq. A musical instrument that has similar characteristics with bağlama is been discovered in the scientific study of the ancient cultures of Sumerian and Hittite mounds in the Asian part of turkey, forming the western peninsular of Asia dating prior to Common Era and also in ancient Greek acts.

The new grove dictionary of music and musicians explained the two terms “bağlama and saz” as being used somewhat interchangeably in the turkey region. Just like the Middle Eastern “oud” and the Western “lute”, the musical instrument has a deep back which is roundish in shape but with a neck that is much longer. This musical instrument can be played with a small flat piece of pointed material or a selpe also called finger picking style.

The bağlama known as the most commonly used string musical instrument in turkey has seven strings that is divided into two or three courses. It has so many ways of tuning it and has been given so many names by so many regions. Example of the names that has been given to this musical instrument includes; sazi, bozuk, cura, tambura, etc. the cura is known as the smallest individual member of the bağlama family, the tambura is also small but it is larger than the cura and tuned an octave lower.

The bağlama as a musical instrument has three major parts; the tekne also known as the bowl is made from the woods of a mulberry or juniper, gogus which is also known as the spruce or the walnut is the sounding board and a sap which is also called the juniper. Frets can be tied on the part called sap together with a fishing line which permits them to be slightly changed. This musical instrument can be played with a material that is similar to the guitar pick called teneze or with bare fingers; this style is known as serpe. The electric bağlama can be connected to an amplifier and can have single or double pickups.

The bağlama is a result of the combination of historical musical instrument that exists in the central Asia; it also exists in the pre-Turkish Anatolia. It is assumed to have gone down from the Turkish komuz. The bağlama is quite different from the komuz in that the body is covered with thick leather and has two or three string that is made from the gut of a sheep, or that of a wolf or even the horsehair. The komuz is played with finger which is unlike the bağlama which is played with plectrum.  The word bağlama was discovered to be first used in the 18^th century text.

On the bağlama, there are three courses with double strings or triple strings which can be tuned in a so many ways, for the bağlama duzeni, the best way of tuning the courses is to go from the top to down. The musical scale of this musical instrument varies from that of the western musical instrument that has similar qualities such as guitar and other lutes.