Download As PDF - Sharing History

Music, Literature, Dance and Fashion | Music | Musical
instruments of the Arab and Ottoman world
It’s said there are two schools of music in the Arab and Ottoman world: Ottoman is ornamented “by delicate
glissandos of the fingers and slight vibratos”; Egyptian is amplified “by firm strokes of the plectrum, which
makes the strings resonate”. (From Christian Poché)
The rich musical traditions of North Africa and the Middle East reflect historical interactions with Africa and
Europe and distinct preferences for rhythm and melody over harmony. The range of instruments, many of
which were adopted by Europeans from those produced by Spanish Muslims, includes several forms of
lute (‘ud), flute or reed pipe, drums, and other stringed instruments suitable for small groups of musicians
rather than orchestras. In the mid-19th century European instruments such as the violin were introduced,
and somewhat later an organ was produced in Tunis with an international audience in mind. The Ottomans
brought their own brand of military music to the Empire including kettle drums, cymbals and trumpets, but in
1826 when the Janissary corps was disbanded, military bands fell out of favour.
Working Number: SP 110
Name:
Lute
Holding Museum: Museum of Costume, Ethnographical Heritage Research Centre
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Wood, bone, metal, nacre, gut, silver; lutherie, marquetry
Curator
Justification:
The lute was introduced to Europe from the Arab world. While lutes
were first played in Spain in the 9th century, their popularity grew from
the 13th century through to the Renaissance. Changes in the design
of the lute and the greater prevalence of violins led to the eclipse and
near-extinction of the lute in nineteenth-century Europe.
Working Number: IT2 099
Name:
Drums
Holding Museum: National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography “Luigi Pigorini”
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Polychrome majolica; goat skin
Curator
Justification:
A common form of drum across the Arab and Ottoman world was the
tall tarijat, or goblet drum. It was played held horizontally under the
arm in combination with stringed instruments. Its body could be made
of wood, earthenware or terracotta, but in Fez in Morocco, glazed
ceramic was used. Variants of this drum, called darabukka, were
produced in Syria.
Working Number: LB 135
Name:
Buzuq
Holding Museum: Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Wood
Curator
Justification:
The buzuq is a variant of the tanbur, a long-neck string instrument that
is differentiated from the ‘ud or lute by its relatively small sound-box
and neck of extended length. Its strings are plucked with a plectrum.
The mother-of-pearl inlay here exhibits the hybridity of ornament in the
Ottoman realm in the late 19th century.
Working Number: LB 136
Name:
Daff
Holding Museum: Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Wood, metal and skin
Curator
Justification:
Constructed like a large tambourine, the daff provides percussion
in combination with stringed and wind instruments. As the miniature
An Entertainment Scene illustrates, daff players also accompanied
dancers without other instrumentalists. The daff is a social, rather
than martial instrument, and its lineage dates to before the time of the
Prophet Muhammad.
Working Number: LB 138
Name:
Lute
Holding Museum: Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Wood
Curator
Justification:
This lute has a bent neck, a form that was in use at least as early as
the 16th century in both Europe and the Islamic world. With its deep
body, its sound was more sonorous than a lute with longer neck and
smaller body. It would have been accompanied by percussion in the
form of a drum, or daff, and possibly a flute.
Working Number: LB 139
Name:
Mijwiz
Holding Museum: Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Wood
Curator
Justification:
The mijwiz is a form of double-reed pipe or clarinet, one of a variety
of pipes played by blowing through one end of the pipe rather than
a hole in its side, like a flute. The pipes are held together by waxed
string. In the 18th-century Ottoman world, multiple reed pipes were
played in combination with zurna and daff as the miniature An
Entertainment Scene illustrates.
Working Number: JO 047
Name:
Reed pipe
Holding Museum: Jordan Folklore Museum, Department of
Antiquities
Date:
Materials:
Early 20th century
Curator
Justification:
Reeds; hand made
The mijwiz is a form of double-reed pipe or clarinet,
one of a variety of pipes played by blowing through
one end of the pipe rather than a hole in its side,
like a flute. The pipes are held together by waxed
string. In the 18th-century Ottoman world, multiple
reed pipes were played in combination with zurna
and daff as the miniature An Entertainment Scene
illustrates.
Working Number: LB 140
Name:
Qanun
Holding Museum: Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Date:
19th century
Materials:
Wood, mandals
Curator
Justification:
The qanun was a very popular instrument in the Middle East and
North Africa from at least the 18th century. Thanks to its range of
octaves, it is highly versatile and is played alone or in combination
with other instruments such as the flute and kamanche (kemençe).
Working Number: TR2 199
Name:
Parmak cura (little cura)
Holding Museum: Ege University Museum of Ethnography
Date:
19th century
Materials:
-
Curator
Justification:
The parmak (little) cura is a small specimen in a large family of related
string instruments. Because of its size its sound has a higher pitch
than the larger tanbur. It was used in many regions of the Ottoman
world for playing both classical and folk music.
Working Number: TR2 200
Name:
Legged violin
Holding Museum: Ege University Museum of Ethnography
Date:
19th century
Materials:
-
Curator
Justification:
The legged violin is one of the types of bowed fiddles played in
the Ottoman world. Its materials, the gourd, with a stretched-skin
surface to form the sound-box, may indicate that it derives from folk
instruments, but the metal leg and fine wooden neck relate more
closely to urban products.
Working Number: JO 050
Name:
Drum
Holding Museum: Jordan Folklore Museum, Department of Antiquities
Date:
Late 19th century – early 20th century
Materials:
Animal skin, ceramics
Curator
Justification:
Although this drum, called a musahirati drum, has been used in
Jordan for the past century or more to wake people for dawn prayers
during the month of Ramadan, its shape is identical to that of the
hawking drum. Hunters would attach the instrument to their saddles
and beat it to call falcons back to them when they were hunting.
Working Number: TR2 198
Name:
Cümbü# (embroidered)
Holding Museum: Ege University Museum of Ethnography
Date:
Beginning of the 20th century
Materials:
-
Curator
Justification:
This cümbü# is an instrument that developed in the early 20th century
and is a variant on the tanbur-type of string instrument. Unlike the
tanbur its neck is bent and the sound-box is round. Its stretched skin
surface is set into a metal frame. The Latin lettering on the frame
indicates that it was made after the Ottoman script reform of 1928.
Working Number: JO 015
Name:
Rababa
Holding Museum: Jordan Museum for Costumes and Jewellery, Department of
Antiquities
Date:
Early 20th century
Materials:
Wood, animals skin; handmade and hand painted
Curator
Justification:
The rebab or rababa is a string instrument associated with the
Bedouin of Arabia and the Near East. This example consists of a
wooden body with a skin belly and wooden neck with one long peg. It
has only one string, though other versions have two or three strings.
Using a bow, it would have been played in the outdoor encampments
of nomads.
Working Number: IT1 008
Name:
Holding Museum:
Date:
Materials:
Curator
Justification:
Organ Made in Tunis by the Italian Firm Cesare Trionfo and Exhibited in
Milan
Italian Geographical Society (SGI)
1906
The organ designed by Cesare Trionfo, an Italian immigrant to
Tunisia, combines the function of a European organ with decoration
inspired by the Islamic architecture of North Africa and Spain. The
cusped arches, panels of geometric patterns and crenellations derive
from palaces and fortresses of the Marinid and Nasrid periods.