* the nak tarhu is aimed at players of traditional instruments that use the left-hand fingernail to fret the string (these
include Cretan lyra, Indian sarangi, Turkish fasıl kemençe, Bulgarian gadulka, Rajasthani sarinda, etc.). The nak tarhu
is usually built with five (cello) strings;
* and finally there is the tarhui tuned an octave above its big sister.
Peter Biffin’s skills in acoustics, combined with a fine eye for beauty in design have not only earned him a variety of
awards but also brought some of the world’s leading musicians to playing his instruments, including Ross Daly
(longneck, lyra, nak, and kamancheh tarhus), Habil Aliyev and Kayhan Kalhor (both kamancheh tarhu).
Taus
The mayuri vina, better known as taus (or balasaraswati) is the most spectacular fiddle we know: It has the shape of a
peacock (= taus in Persian). The peacock is the mount of the musical goddess Sarasvati; in Indian poetry it appears as
a metaphor for courtship. The taus was especially popular at Indian courts in the 19
th
century. The instrument has 20
metal frets and 28-30 strings. Accoridng to legends it was created by Sri Hargobind, the sixth guru of the Sikhs. As the
instrument was too heavy and bulky to be carried by soldiers on the backs of their horses it was continually diminished
until it became what we know today as dilruba – an instrument smaller and lighter than the taus predecessor (and thus
sounding higher and brighter).
The dilruba – prominently to be heard in George Harrison’s Within You Without You – is often characterised as a
crossbreed between sitar and sarangi. The neck with metal bails as frets recalls the former, the skin-covered body the
latter. The plucked instrument rubab delivered the stringing: one melody and three drone strings plus up to 15
sympathetic strings.
The dilruba – the name is said to mean “stealer of the heart” – is a popular instrument from north-western India to
Afghanistan; it has an almost identical
counterpart in the east, i.e. in Bengal and Bangladesh: esraj. The esraj is
notably younger, though; it was only introduced in north-eastern India in the 19
th
century but soon found its place in
accompanying the khyal songs of the classical North Indian Music as well as the semi-classical thumri style songs and
also folk music.
The esraj was the favourite instrument of Sri Chinmoy while Ravi Shankar played dilruba in the 1930s in dance
ensemble of his older brother Uday Shankar. Nevertheless – the triangle taus-dilruba-esraj would most likely have
been lost had not the Gurmat Sangeet movement gained importance during the last years: Gurmat Sangeet is the
teaching of the psalms from the holy scriptures of Siri Guru Granth Sahib. It stipulates to accompany these in the
same way as the Sikh gurus have done in former times – on rabab, sarinda, jori, sarangi, dilruba and taus.
Pages 59ff
Disk 1
1-1 Tunding Maguan (Philippines): The Millipede’s Advice 1:14
(trad.)
The Tboli are an old indigenous people living in South Cotabato (in the southern parts of Mindanao, itself being the
southernmost island of the Philippine archipelago). Their women are the bearer of the traditions, illiterate yet highly
skilled when it comes to playing their instruments. Like Tunding Maguan who wanted to be like her father who played
all the instruments the Tboli know. For instance the dwegey, a single-stringed fiddle made from a 50-cm long bamboo
attached to a coconut shell at one end; also the bow is made from bamboo. The Tboli incorporate all sounds they hear
into their music, and this tune is no exception. Tunding Maguan explains: “At night, you can hear millipede mother
advising their kids not to go and roam around everywhere because their thin carapace makes them easy prey.”
recorded on location by Boris Lelong
from Philippines – Femmes artistes du lac Sebu (Buda Records/Musique du Monde 3017557)
© Buda Records 2007
licensed from Buda Records, www.budamusique.com
1-2 Turgun Alimatov (Uzbekistan): Ey, Sabô 5:13
(M: trad.; A: Turgun Alimatov)
Turgun Alimatov, sato | Alisher Alimatov, dutor
Turgun Alimatov (20 January 1922 – 17 December 2008) was probably Uzbekistan’s greatest musician of the last
century. In the booklet to Ouzbékistan – Turgun Alimatov (Ocora C 560086) US-American musicologist Theodore Levin
praised his “elegant and laconic performances” and observed that Turgun Alimatov’s approach was to take folksongs –
which were more often than not short excerpts from the classical Mugam repertoire – and turn them back into
classical pieces. Turgun Alimatov was completely self-taught yet became an undisputed master on tanbur and dutar,
and also played (and actually revived!) the long-necked bowed sato: Upon the suggestion of a radio station director he
went to an instrument maker‘s shop where a sato has been lying on a shelf for twenty years. “I took it home and
practised for year.” Had you ever heard the sato played? “No.”
Alisher Alimatov is Turgun’s son; Ey Sabô is the instrumental version of a classic song from the Ferghana valley.
from Ouzbékistan – Musique classique instrumentale (VDE Gallo CD-974)
© VDE Gallo 1998
licensed from VDE Gallo
1-3 Seikin Tomiyama (Japan): Chidori na kyoku 10:53
(T: trad./Kanemasa no Minamoto; M: Kengyô Yoshizawa)
Seikin Tomiyama, kokyû | Mieko Tomiyama, Atsuko Tomiyama, koto | Seijo Tominari, uta (vocals)
Two 31-syllabled waka short poems from the tenth (from the collection Kokinshû) and twelfth century (by Kanemasa
no Mina-moto, from Kin’yôshû) about the chidori (plover). The piece by Keng-yô Yoshizawa, composed c 1835, is today
a koto classic, usually performed by two kotos and a singer. But originally it was most likely written for kokyû. Seikin
Tomiyama (1913-2008) pays tribute to that. The highly decorated Ningen kokuhô (living cultural treasure) cultivated
the historic repertoire of the old guild of the blinds; he himself played shamisen, koto and kokyû. Until today he is
regarded as a master and guardian of this specific musical artform that is also called ‘Jiuta-Sôkyoku’.
recorded by BR on 17 March 1981 at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich
© Bayerischer Rundfunk/BR-Klassik 1981
licensed from BRmedia service GmbH
previously unreleased
1-4 Samo (Tajikistan): Khuhiston 2:34
(trad.)
Shanbe Mamadgaminov, ghijjak | Shavqmamad Pulodov, setar | Faizmamad Nazariev, tanbur | Daler Pallaev, daf | Alishaev
Qurbonhaseyn, tablak
The Tajik ghijak is a two-stringed spike fiddle with a tin can as resonator. The instrument consists of a 70-75 cm long,
colourfully painted stick cut from mulberry wood whith drilled adornments and two lateral and opposite wooden pins
as pegs at its upper end. The tin can is pierced at its short end and slided over the stick until pressure pitch. In a bore
at the lower end of the stick a long nail is hammered; a metal wire is strung around the nail witrh both ends leading
up to the pegs. All it needs now is to clip a wooden bridge under the strings. The stick’s length is standarised; the size
of the resonater box can vary from small cans for tinned food to large rectangular oil cans.
The five men of the enemble Samo (= heaven) were born in the Pamir mountains; nowadays they live as musicians and
music teachers in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
WDR recording from TFF Rudolstadt 2008 (Landestheater; 6 July)
© Samo, WDR 2008
with kind permission of Samo
previously unreleased
1-5 Sami al Shawa (Syria): Eerabi fil Sahra 2:55
(trad.)
Sami al Shawa (also Shawwa or Chawa; 1889–1965) was born in Cairo to an Orthodox family from Aleppo. Shortly
afterwards the family returned to Syria. Sami’s father and grand-grandfather both played the violin (his grandfather
the qanun); against the opposition of his father Sami pursued a musical career and was soon known as a musical
miracle. Which led his father to sending him back to Cairo – at that time Cairo was the centre of Arabian music. Soon
Sami al Shawa accompanied the leading singers, began to promote western notation, and published his theories in
books. He recorded as a soloist and with orchestras; many tunes bear the name of a country as title: Sami al Shawwa
liked to demonstrate the individual violin styles and music traditions of the Arabian countries between Iraq, Yemen
and Marocco. This piece was recorded in Cairo in the 1920s for the Baidaphone label.
1-6 Mohammad Naim (Afghanistan): Bulbalak-e sang shekan > Goftamash ay naazanin 7:13
(M: trad.)
Mohammad Naim, ritchak, vocals | Malang Najrabi, zerbarhali
Ritchak is the local version of the ghijak, a two-stringed instrument with a wooden body and sympathetic strings that
is played in the north of Afghanistan. These two folk songs from the area around Mazar-e Sharif stand as symbols for
the multi-cultural Afghan society: The first is sung in Uzbek: ‘This place is not our land; we got to go towards the high
mountains.’ The second is from the Badakshani/Takhari repertoire and sung in Dari (Persian): ‘Oh my sweetheart,
your fragrance is coming towards me like musk.’ Both songs belong to the qataghani, songs in the North Afghan style.
recorded by Georges Wren in Mazar-e Sharif
from Musiques de l’Asie traditionelle vol. 15: Afghanistan (PlayaSound PS 33520; re-released as CD
Air Mail Afghanistan [Sunset SA141052])
© PlayaSound 1981; www.playasound.com
licensed from Playasound/Sunset France
1-7 Nguyên Thê Dân (Vietnam): Kê chuyên gày muà 6:54
(M: Thao Giang)
Nguyên Thê Dân was born into a traditional family and started early on to play on the dàn nhi. Having finished his
studies at the National Music Academy he was appointed director of the Department of Traditional Music. Apart from
teaching the “outstanding people’s artist“ gives concerts on an international level. Here he plays with members of the
ensemble Phang Lan (Orchid) the contemporary composition Talking About Harvest Time that belongs to the genre of
the so-called ‘New Traditional Music’.
recorded in Hanoi, February 1991 by Torbjörn Samuelsson; produced by Sten Sandahl
from Music from Vietnam (Caprice CAP 21406)
© Caprice 2000
licensed from Caprice
1-8 Muhammad Sahman (Indonesia): Mares 4:51
(M: trad.)
Muhammad Sahman, biola | Made Kahar, jak | Kalam Matapure, Badar Bangsa, tifa