Ash Three-stringed Cura

Ash Three-stringed Turkish Small Baglama Cura

Ash Three-stringed Cura is traditional musical instrument that is generally in Teke Region in Turkey. Best musical instruments are those small curas to carry with and They have traditional playing techniques. It is the father of many saz instruments. It is from Middle Asia

Ash Three-stringed Cura is the smallest member of the stringed instruments family with the highest pitched sound. One size bigger instrument than two-stringed cura gives a sound that is one octave lower This smallest member of stringed instruments family is  in nearly every region of the country under a variety of names, including dede sazi, parmak cura, and iki and uc telli cura. It has also different names like baglama curasi, tanbura curasi etc.

Ash Three-stringed Cura in Teke Region has varies in terms of structural and instrumental features.

This Ash Three-stringed Cura is from ash tree wood. The bowl length is 7.8’’. Right hand playing. Our artisan is carving all the musical instruments using musical golden ratio to get the perfect sound. He is a master traditional musical instrument maker and player. Government asks him  to join in fairs and exhibitions to show his best musical instruments. You do not need to use plectrum. Because you play it with your fingernails.  

The Best Musical Instruments In Turkey

It is important to make clear that Turkey is a very rich country in terms of musical traditions and its traditional musical instruments reflect the harmony of the cultures.

The oud is at the core of all middle eastern music and makam based music. The turkish oud is a bit smaller than the arabic oud, When we compare ouds with similar instruments like the European lute is the lack of frets. This characteristic feature allows to play all the complex pitch scales and nuances of the makams. The Turkish oud has five double strings plus a single string at the low end. The five double strings are generally tuned as B2, E3, A3, D4, F#2 (or A2) and the low isolated string, called bam, is generally tuned as C#2 or D2.

An interesting hybrid instrument of oud and banjo is the cumbus like the oud is fretles and like the banjo has a metal resonator and a skin body head. It has a metallic resonant tone

The Turkish ney is very popular in Sufi music. It is an end-blown flute and difficult to play in an oblique in order to make it sound. Ney has a mouthpiece that creates a bowl-shaped cavity. It is from water buffalo horn. Ney has six holes in the front and one in the back. The construction of the instrument is quite sophisticated

The Traditional Musical Instruments

The Turkish kanun is like a zither but with twenty-six courses of strings and three strings per course. It is plucked with the fingernails or with two tortoise-shell picks, one in each hand. The performer actually changes the tuning of the strings during performance and that requires a lot of effort and exercise.

The baglama (saz) is similar to the tanbur but it is mainly  in folk music instrument and in fact is the most common instrument in Turkey.

All these traditional musical instruments have been evolving within the characteristics of makam music, thus the need for flexible tuning and for expressive monophonic playing