The Azerbaijani tar is a long-necked, plucked lute, traditionally crafted, and performed in communities throughout the Republic of Azerbaijan. The tar is featured alone or with other instruments in numerous traditional musical styles. It is also considered by many to be the country's leading musical instrument. The tar and the skills related to this tradition play a significant role in shaping the cultural identity of Azerbaijanis.
Tar makers transmit their skills to apprentices, often within the family. Craftsmanship begins with careful selection of materials for the instrument: mulberry wood for the body, nut wood for the neck, and pear wood for the tuning pegs. Using various tools, crafters create a hollow body in the form of a figure eight, which is then covered with the thin pericardium of an ox. The fretted neck is affixed, metal strings are added and the body is inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Performers hold the instrument horizontally, against the chest, and pluck the strings with a plectrum, while using trills and a variety of techniques and strokes to add colour. Tar performance has an essential place in weddings and different social gatherings, festive events, and public concerts. Players transmit their skills to young people within their community by word of mouth, demonstration, and at educational musical institutions.
The "Caucasian tar" or "Azerbaijani tar" or "11 string tar" is an instrument in a slightly different shape from the Persian Tar and was developed from the original Persian tar around 1870 by Sadigjan. It has a slightly different build and has more strings. The Caucasus tar has one extra bass-string on the side, on a raised nut, and usually 2 double resonance strings via small metal nuts halfway the neck. All these strings are running next to the main strings over the bridge and are fixed to a string-holder and the edge of the body.[2]
Trio of mugham performers (tar performer sits in the center). Baku, 1912
In the second half of the 19th century, tar went through different renovations. One of the greatest musicians - performers on container Mirza Sadiq Asad (1846-1902) introduced changes in traditional iranian tar structure and form, increasing the number of its strings and bringing them up to 11. He, in addition, has changed the way the game on the container, raising tool with performer knees to his chest.[3]
New flowering of playing on the container begins in the 20th century. For example, the tar took the lead in the first Sheet orchestra of folk musical instruments, created in 1931 on the initiative of Uzeyir Hajibeyov and Muslim Magomayev largest Azerbaijani composers and public figures of the first half of the 20th century. School of sheet music playing on national instruments based Uzeyir Hajibeyov, further expanded the technical and artistic possibilities of the packaging.[3]
In Azerbaijan music, tar was used primarily as a lead instrument in the so-called mugham trio of singers (singer), which also includes kamancha and daf. The tar, as a part of mugham trio and as a solo, to date, continues to play a crucial role in the art of mugam, traditional and popular in Azerbaijan.[3]
The tar is held horizontally to the player's chest, and there held in position with the right hand by pushing its double-bowl shaped lower part to the chest. Playing the Tar commences by pulling the string using the plectrum held between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. The strings, which are pulled by the right hand, make the sounds, and the tunes come from pressing the relevant frets with the forefinger, middle finger and ring finger of the left hand. In order to ensure the full use of the capability and variety of a Tar, the player will use different plectrums, together with differing strokes and trills.[4] The range of tonality of the Tar is chromatic and covers two and one-half octaves.[citation needed]
In musical instrument classification, string instruments or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Bosnian music (Sevdalinka), Kurdish music, Armenian music. It is played in several regions in the world such as Europe, Asia, Black Sea, Caucasus regions and many countries including Syria, Iraq, Iran and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The biwa is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The biwa is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710–794). Typically 60 centimetres (24 in) to 106 centimetres (42 in) in length, the instrument is constructed of a water drop-shaped body with a short neck, typically with four strings. In Japan, the biwa is generally played with a bachi instead of the fingers, and is often used to play gagaku. One of the biwa's most famous uses is for reciting The Tale of theHeike, a war chronicle from the Kamakura period (1185–1333). In previous centuries, the predominant biwa musicians would have been blind monks, who used the biwa as musical accompaniment when reading scriptural texts.
The komuz or qomuz is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments, the Mongolian tovshuur, and the lute. The instrument can be found in Turkic ethnic groups, from China to Turkey. Forms of this instrument are used in China by the Naxi people and are called Huobusi, Hebisi , and Hunbusi.
Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov, known as Uzeyir Hajibeyov, was an Azerbaijani composer, conductor, publicist, playwright, and social figure. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani composed classical music and opera. Uzeyir Hajibeyov composed the music of the national anthem of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. He also composed the anthem used by Azerbaijan during the Soviet period. He was the first composer of an opera in the Islamic world. He composed the first oriental opera Leyli and Majnun in 1908 and since then he is revered for adapting the written masterpiece to the theatre.
The tar is a long-necked, waisted lute family instrument, used by many cultures and countries including Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and others near the Caucasus and Central Asia regions. The older and more complete name of the tār is čahārtār or čārtār, meaning in Persian "four string",. This is in accordance with a practice common in Persian-speaking areas of distinguishing lutes on the basis of the number of strings originally employed. Beside the čārtār, these include the dotār, setār, pančtār, and šaštār or šeštār.
The music of Central Asia is as vast and unique as the many cultures and peoples who inhabit the region. Principal instrument types are two- or three-stringed lutes, the necks either fretted or fretless; fiddles made of horsehair; flutes, mostly sige at both ends and either end-blown or side-blown; and jew harps, mostly metal. Percussion instruments include frame drums, tambourines, and kettledrums. Instrumental polyphony is achieved primarily by lutes and fiddles.
The yueqin, also called a moon lute or moon guitar, is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, and usually four strings. It is an important instrument in the Peking opera orchestra, often taking the role of main melodic instrument in lieu of the bowed string section.
A setar is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the 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 vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum.
Mirza Sadig, more commonly known as Sadigjan, was an Azerbaijani folk musician, tar player, and the creator of the Azerbaijani tar.
The bipa is a pear-shaped lute that is a traditional Korean musical instrument. It is derived from Chinese pipa and was introduced through the Silk Road to Goguryeo and Silla. There are two major types of bipa: the four stringed dang-bipa and the five stringed hyang-bipa. While dang-bipa was a Tang-style pipa first introduced from the Chinese Tang dynasty and localized over time to have Korean characteristics, hyang-bipa was created in the Korean Kingdom of Silla. The instrument is also related to other derivatives such as Vietnamese đàn tỳ bà and the Japanese biwa.
The term Tanbur can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related long-necked lutes used in art and folk traditions. Similar or identical instruments are also known by other terms." These instruments are used in the traditional music of Iran, India, Kurdistan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
A sazanda or sazandar is one of the three musicians in the traditional ensemble of instrumentalists performing along with a singer in the South Caucasus. The word means "builder" in Persian. The trio consists of a tarist, a kamanchist and a daf player. Historically the word sazanda(r) was applied to any instrumentalist from Anatolia, the Caucasus or Iran, who played a folk instrument.
The laouto is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece and Cyprus, and similar in appearance to the oud. It has four double-strings. It is played in most respects like the oud ; in Cyprus the laouto is plucked with a feather. This instrument is known in Albania as "llautë" or "llauta", and in Romania as "lăuta".
The choghur is a plucked string musical instrument common in Azerbaijan and Georgia. It has 4 nylon strings.
The tambura is a stringed instrument that is played as a folk instrument in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. It has doubled steel strings and is played with a plectrum, in the same manner as a mandolin.
The veena, also spelled vina, encompasses various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps. The many regional designs have different names such as the Rudra veena, the Saraswati veena, the Vichitra veena and others.
Azerbaijani traditional musical instruments are a family of ancient string, wind and percussion instruments used in the performance of Azerbaijani traditional music.
Mugham trio or mugham triads is a classical ensemble of three Azerbaijani national musical instruments: tar, kamancheh, and qaval performers. It is a traditional musical group of Azerbaijani musicians who perform the mugham repertoire and represent the ensemble of khanandas and sazandas.
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