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A c o u s t i c   i n s t r u m e n t s   :

          The instruments introduced in the following web site are scarcely known in the western culture and are seldom collected in Encyclopedias. The recordings of composer Raoul Robecchi include well-known traditional instruments (Hardy bag-pipe from Scotland, Indian sitar....) and other instruments rarely used in contemporary music. In order to be acquainted with these instruments which are very popular in their country of origin, the names of great performers follow the description of each instrument.

The terminology of the instruments may vary from one country to another.

P e r c u s s i o n s

Bendir ( abendair, abendaïr ). Origin: North Africa, close to tambourine, riqq ( Arabic Egyptian tambourine )

It is a wooden circle-shaped frame ( diameter from 15 up to 20 inches ), on which a goat skin is stretched . The Bendir is halfway between the tambourine and the snare drum. It is a one side percussion. Some bendirs have three threads stretched on the skin, in order to increase the resonance of the skin and send out a sound similar to a snare drum.  

Performers: Houria Aïchi ( Berber, Aurès Algeria ) - Adel Shams El Din - Burhan Öçal, Turkia -

Darbuka darbukà ( derbuka / derbukka / tarabuka /darabukka / darabukka / greek mytilenian drum). Origin: babylon and Sumer.

Baked clay vase-shaped percussion ( North Africa ), made of wood or metal in India and Syria. The goat or fish skin is stretched on the brims and glued, then it is stretched with thin threads. The same instrument can be found in Syria, in metal,  the tension of the skin is modifiable thanks to a screw system set on a circle. The Darbouka can be found all over the muslem world, from Morocco to India.  

Performers: Abdel Khalek Assan - Abd al Ahad Amri, Morocco - Saïd Mohammed Aly, El Karnak, Egypt - Ekrem Bagi, Turkia - Burhan Öçal, Turkia - Neil Sparkes - Rafiq Rouissi -

Djembe or jembe. Origin: Mandingue ( Wassulu, Guinea - Mali )

Percussion from 60 up to 80 cm high. The wooden body is chalice-shaped, slightly widening at the bottom. Djembe cannot be played if it is placed on the floor. The skin is held with a metal circle and stretched with ropes.

Qraqeb craqueb / krakeb. Africa

Instrument close to european castanets, made of 8 metal convex discs, 4 inches of diameter,  put together two by two with a stem. The player has in each hand two series of discs and he shakes the dics alternatively.

Performers : Allal Aglaou, Mustafa Aglaou, Ahmed Ghani, Abdeslam Ghassal, Morocco.

Tabla or tabl and baya / mridangam, mridanga, mathala. Indian origin. Turkish evolution : tavul either davul or davuljuee, containing a hammer and a wooden stick. Turkish evolution of the baya : nakkare.

The percussion of northern Indian music. It consists of two small timpani, originally both formed a single instrument named mridangam, which is still widely used in southern India (Tamil Nadu, Kerala).The right hand timpani is narrow and made of wood, it is tuned on the fundamental of the instrument the Tabla plays with. The left hand timpani is made of metal, it is larger and not tuned. The wide range of sounds may vary according to the portion of skin hit by the fingers. Indeed, the skin of each timpani can be divided into three areas : the main skin, a skin crown on its brims, and a central lozenge made of rice and iron paste. The skins are stretched on the body thanks to leather thin straps. Some Mridangams owe their particular sound to the bamboo pieces stuck between the layers of the main skin.  

Performers: Anand Kumar - Dildar Hussain, Pakistan - Zakir Hussain - Hussein Mohammed Ra'sho, Kurdistan - Anindo Chatterjee - Ustad Shaukat Hussain - Satin Singh - Ashiqali Hussein - Taha Muhammad Yehia Muhammad, Egypt -

Târ or tar / triar / reqq. (different from the " tar " which is a string instrument)

Small Basque percussion, played in Morocco. Similar to the tambourine with small cymbals.   

Performers: Aïcha Reduane, Egypt

Zarb or tombak / tmobak / dombak / tmobak / tabnag / khomak / khomac / tombalak / tombalac / dombak / donbak / dun-balag / zirbaghali. Origin: Persia, 3000 Bc ( Khuzestan)

Zarb is an Arabic word which means : " hit ", Persians gave it  the meaning of " rhythm ", " beat " in a measure and " tempo ". This drum was also often named " Tombak " or " Dombak ", probably because of the two sounds reproduced in the syllables "tom " and " bak ". Nowadays this term sounds a bit pejorative because it refers to ancient times when the zarb was held as a second class instrument and little was asked to the player. From other sources of information, tombak would come from tabnag, which was the first percussion alike the modern intrument. Others think, tombak would come from dun-balag (small tail). Some say the origin comes from khormac which is a small container in baked clay. The Zarb is a one side drum whose large and stout body windens at the bottom, carved in maple, walnut or mulberry tree.  The membrane is made of lamb, goat , sheep, gazelle, fish skin. The skin is stretched and glued on the instrument brims. The upper part of the body used as a bridge,  is only a few millimeters thick. There are three distinctive parts : the body, (tané), the horn (nafir), the skin (pouste). Other models are available, in baked clay or in metal.

Performers: Râdji Khân, Iran - Hossein  ( Hoseyn ) Téhérâni or Tehrâni or Tehrani, Iran - Djamchid Chemirani, Iran - Djahangir Behesti, Iran - Dariush Zarbafian, Iran - Reza Torchizi Nejad - Kamram Klaji - Madjid Khaladj, Iran - Saber Kakavand -

W i n d   i n s t r u m e n t s   :

Arghoul. urgün double clarinet. Origin: Egypt, known as  " mijwiz or midwiz " in kurdistan

One of the oldest wind instruments, dating back to the 5th and 6th Egyptian dynasties. The instrument is made up of pipes bound together with strips of cloth and small ropes coated with resin and wax. The etymology of arghoul is to be found in the arabic word for organ "urgun". The arghoul differs from other double  reed clarinettes thanks to a drone which can be added to several segments in order to change the tonality. Each pipe owns a  narrow fore-body (rakaks or loam),  or intermediate part. The melodical pipe, pierced with six holes, is named " badan ". Al balous (plural bawalis) is the name for the pipe. It exists essentially three types of arghul : the big arghoul (arghoul alkebir) whose drone and three segments can reach 2m50, the medium arghoul (arghoul al soghayr), the small  arghoul (arghoul al asghar). The big one implies great technical difficulties for the musician : the distance between the fingers and the breathing capacity required ( the musician must blow continuously and circularly ). It has nearly disappeared nowadays. 

Performers: Mustafa Abdel Aziz (Beni Mazar, Egypt)

Cervelat .( cervelas ) Europe

Doneli. algoza / satar. Double end-blown flute. Balutcyistan, Rajasthan, Sind.

The right-hand flute, called the "male" has 7 holes for a chromatic scale. This flute plays the chorus. The left flute called the "maiden" has 8 holes and is used as the drone. By plugging up the holes of the "maiden" with wax, the note of the drone is modified.

Performers: Firuz Sâjedi, Bayân, Khamisu Khân, Balutchisthan.

Mizmar. Origin: Egypt. Turkish zurna. Indian shanaï / sahnaï / surnaï / nagasvaram - surney / sona (Cina), sralay (Kampuchea), pi nai (Thaïlandia). Sopile ( yougoslavia ), surnaj ( Tashkent), tiple (Spain), bombarde, chalémie (France), piffaro (Italia ), tarogato (Hongarien), alghaita (Niger), Auloi (Greece of the Vth century B.C), tibia - bone (Roman).

Wind instrument alike a popular oboe. The manufacturing and the terminology may vary according to the degree of islamization of the countries. Three different versions of the instrument exist in Egypt, each has a specific size and register and is used differently : the small sîbs, the big telf and the chalabîya or mizmar sa'idi ( medium size ). The mizmar performers in High Egypt, popularly named zoummarin, play in a trio and are rhythmically sustained by the tabla baladi a sort of double membrane drum, which also gives its name to the trio. The continuous breathing technique is essential : air is inspired through the nose while the cheeks are used as an air reservoir. 

Nay, ney, gasba, jawak

performers : Mehmet Arif Erdebil, Turkia - Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad, Egypt -

Pungi . Double indian clarinet.

Played with the continuous breathing technique : inspiration through the nose, air in the mouth.

Zukra / mezued / mezud. Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco.

African bagpipe made of goat skin.

S t r i n g    i n s t r u m e n t s  

Terminology of string instruments.

Kithara (greek: lyre) - citara - cetara -cetera - cithar - sitar - cintoor - santoor -  guitar - tar

Balalaïka. Slav origin. The present model dates back to the end of the 19th century.

It is a three- string - instrument, approximately the same size as a mandolin, with a triangle-shaped body. The ancestor of the balalaïka is the dombra, which is the ancient Russian lute.

Buzuki buzuq / buzukee / bozuk. Origin: Greece, Turkia, Kurdistan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt.

The buzuq is probably derived from a Turkish instrument of the same type. It has  a small, deep, round body and a long neck fretted with metal strings. The instrument is tuned on a tempered mode, microtonal scales are thus impossible to be played. The instrument has eight strings set in pairs. Traditionally, the buzuq was played as a solo instrument by the immigrant gypsies from Syria and Lebanon.       

Instruments close to buzuk are : the cura ( 3 strings ), baglama (6 strings ), asik sasi (9 strings) and meydan sasi (12 strings)

Performers: Ali Jihad Racy (Lebanon). P.H.D. in ethnomusicoloy from the University of Illinois. Professor of music at UCLA - Sivan or Civan Paewer, Kurdistan - Raoul Robecchi, Corsica.

Cetera cithern / cittern / cetara / citara / cetra / cetula / cedra / archicithern / archicittern / cittern-theorb / cithern-theorb. Lute used in Europe. Origin : Tuscany.

The Cetera (cithern) is a  flat body instrument and belongs to the lute family, round shaped,  with metal strings, close to the 16th century Italian "chitarrone". The large fingerboard has 18 positions. It was played with a feather in England in the 18th century ( instrument N°183 at the Museum of the Conservatory of Paris) The first french cithern has 11 strings: 3 series of tripled strings tuned (D-C-G-A) + a last couple of strings. In Italy, there are citherns with 6 doubled strings (A-G-C-E-F-D), 9 doubled strings or 10 doubled strings (for a total of 20 strings).

There are citherns with varied and queer shapes, including extra bass-strings played aside from the fingerboard (archicithern -archicittern).

Today the cetera  / cetara / / cetula / mauresque guitar (corsican popular cittern / cithern) is very popular in Corsica with the re-discovery of Felix Quilici’s researches in ethnomusicology. The instrument is now frequently played in the classical, contemporary and folk corsican music (renowned corsican bands such as A Filetta, Tavagna, Caramusa...). The practice of the instrument is now taught at the "Phonothèque of  the Musée de la Corse " (Anthropology Museum of Corsica) in Corti. The corsican cithern named cetera or cetara was popular in all the italian peninsula during the XIXth century but the original shape of the instrument dates back to the XIth century. The best concert cetera have been manufactured since 1991 by Christian Magdeleine, born in 1963 (above photo). Others manufacturers in Corsica are M. Buresi and Formentelli. This corsican cithern locally called cetara or cetera (from the tuscan name) has 16 strings tuned two by two in each degree of the minor mode scale. The cetera is made of different woods suc as laricio Pine (table of the body), maple (neck)...

Performers: Barnardu Pazzoni, Corsica - Ghjuseppu Figarelli, Corsica - Daniel Natalini, Corsica - Micheli Raffaelli, Corsica - Nandu Acquaviva, Corsica -

Colascione or canacione / canachon / colachon / calasciaune / canachon / canachion / mandola.

The colasione belongs to the lute family, of toscan origin (1650). There are several forms of this instrument whose origin is probably turkish (tar and islamic tanbur). The body of the colascione has an oval form or pear-shaped form. The length of the neck is approximately 14 inches (for a total length of 29').The width of the body is 7', and its height is 4 inches. The name "colascione" or "canacione" is given to long-necked lutes characterised by proportions in which length dominates with a body of relatively small dimensions. The body and the neck are made of the same block of wood. The fingerboard is fretted in halftone. The colascione has 3 metallic strings tuned C6 - C5 - G5. The first and the third  string (which was never acted as a drone) which are extremely thin, are of the same thickness (008) and are called "feminine". The second string (the central one) of a greatest thickness is called "cordone" or "masculine".

Performers: Laureato Margieri (born 1895, last living known player ). Bibliografy: Giuliana Fugazzoto, Roberto Palmieri - "Il colascione sopravvissuto". Bologna: Orpheus 1994.

Dulcimer appalachian sitar  / spinet of Vosges. Celtic origin. The dulcimer is also the French equivalent of the santoor in the XVIIth century.

The Dulcimer has been used since the end of the 19th century in Kentucky. Its origin is to be found in north western Europe, in Ireland, in Brittany up to the Jura mountain range.

It is a long Cythar-shaped instrument, with four strings, it is to be played on the lap with a bamboo piece which moves along a 17- fret-neck, held in the left hand, and with a spectrum held in the right hand.

Performers: Gabriel Yacoub, Brittany - Raoul Robecchi, Corsica.

Gambri. Morocco, Sudan, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Niger.

The gambri is a small three-stringed african lute made of goat gut, tuned in G - D - D an octave down (75 hz). The middle string is played as a drone. The range of the gambri is one octave. This instrument can be played too as a drum. The sounding board is made of camel skin. A metal sistrum (sersèra / sersera) can be fitted into the extremity of the neck of the gambri and is set to resonance by the motions of the instrument and the vibration of the strings.

Performers. M'allem Amida Bussu, Morocco.

Kamantche  / kamanche / camanche / kemânçe / kemençe / kamendja / tadjik ghichack. Origin: Iran. XVth century.

Three-string instrument, originally silk strings, similar to violin , technically similar to the monocord and the vielle. The standing musician holds the back of the instrument against his body. The instrument is placed on the floor thanks to a pike. In Tadjikistan, there is an instrument very similar to the kamantche with a rectangular body, with 2 or 3 strings: the ghichack.

Performers: Asqar Bahari, Iran - Mahmud Tabrizi-Zadeh, Iran - Davud Gandje'i, Iran - Selim Güler, Turkia - Binnaz Bascar, Turkia - Samy Gaber Sheba, Egypt -

Ud /oud / lud. Arabic lute. " ud sharqi ", kwitrah (greek: kithara): West-egypt

Arabic name of the ancient Persian innstrument : Barbat. Ancestor of the spanish guitar. The instrument has eleven nylon strings set in pairs and a single bass string. The four highest strings ( tuned DADGC or DEADA ) are used for melody. The fifth and sixth strings are usually tuned an octave below the second and third ( that is D and G). The neck is shorter than the regular guitar and is fretless. It unables both the intonation of microtonal intervals and the creation of a vibrato and portamento with the left hand. The basic design of the modern ud was developed as early as the 8th century A.D. The name (which literally means "a piece of wood") dates back to the 6^th , to the time when an indigenous Arab lute, previously covered with skin, was given a wooden belly. Later, brought by the Muslim to Spain, the instrument gave both its name (al ud) and its form to the European lute. Today the ud remains the most widely-used lute in the arab world, the favored tool of composers, and the essential instrument in virtually every art and popular ensemble.

Performers : Simon Shaheen ( Haïfa) - Hikmet Shaheen ( Haïfa) - Hussein el Masry or Hussein el Misr ( Egypt) - Abdolvahhab Shahidi, Iran -  Muhammad Bryûl, Morocco - Abd ar Rahim Oth Mani, Morocco - Anouar Brahem - Hamza el Din, Egypt - Choyly, Djanet Tassilli - Assim Chalabi - Osman Yurdal Tekcan, Turkia - Merral Incilli, Turkia - Walid Rouissi - Essam Rashad - Muhammad Farghaly Muhammad, Egypt -

Psaltery, nabulum, decacordum, at the origin of the tympanon or cymbalum which evoluated to the clavichord or manichordion and the harpsychord called clavicembalo in italian (clavi = key + cymbalum).

The harp-psaltery can be played with the fingers (is also called tympanon in the middle-ages)

The micanon is an half-psaltery.

The psaltery is an instrument similar to the cythar whose strings are played thanks to a small bow. The thin body is triangular-shaped. The instrument has 25 strings in a chromatic scale. The right side of the instrument plays 2 major scales. The left side plays half-tones.

Qanun / qânûm / qanum / kanun / kanun.

Trapezium-shaped- cythar similar to the santur. It owns 78 strings for 25 notes. It is played thanks to two " fullers " fixed to the forefingers. 

Performers: Mohammed Salah El Din - Mustafa Alawi, Morocco - Sabin Sert, Turkia - Göksel Baktagir, Turkia - Shâfaï Muhammad Mustafa, Egypt - Alev Erguner, Turkia - Ayse Coskum, Turkia -

Rebec rebab / rbâb / rababe / rababa / rabab) origin: Persia, Iran.

The Persian word rababba ( plural rabab), indicates a bow vielle whose body is made up of a single wooden block and a one or two – gut string  neck. Its shape may vary according to the various muslim regions of the world into it has developed. The left hand touch on the neck is designed to obtain a  note with harmonics. The word rabab is also to be found in Malaysia and has developed throughout the medieval western world where its name has been changed into rebec. The instrument was already existing, in its most basic shape, throughout the pre-islamic period ( Djâhilîya ); it was known as the rababa-al-chaër. The one string vielle was the tribe poet-teller's instrument, which sustained the rhythm of his words in the course of his improvisations. The body of the Egyptian rababa is made of a cocoa nut covered with a fish skin and stretched on a long wooden cylindric neck extended by an iron bar. The two strings, made out of  horsehair, are generally tuned  to a fourth interval, and stretched thanks to large pegs screwed on the upper part of the neck. They are played with a big bow made out of horsehair. 

Performers Metqâl Quenanoui Metqâl, El Karnak, Egypt - Chamandi Tewfick Metqâl, El Karnak, Egypt - Mohammed Mourad Metgali, El Karnak, Egypt - Ibrahim Alouane Jerad - Abd al Krim al Rayis -

Santoor sintoor / cintoor. ( iranian dulcimer ) / chang / tsimbalu (similar to the cymbalon or hungarian cymbalum, the estonian kankles, the swiss hackbrett, the surmandal and the indian shantoor, the cinese yang-qin)

You can listen to a santoor in Raoul Robecchi’s compact-disc. 

Performers: Hossein Farjami, Iran - Madjid Kiani (Kiâni), Iran - Faramarz Payvar, Iran - Manushchehr Dhiahn Beglou, Iran - Habib Soma - Shivkumar Sharma - Hassan Tabar -

Sarangi. India, Pakistan, Nepal.

Performers: Ram Narayan - Sultan Khan -Ustad Nazim Ali Khan.

Sarod. sorud ( Balutcyistan ) / queychak / qeychak / India,  Rajasthan, Pakistan

Performers: Family Rasulbakhsh ( Musâ, Din Mohammad, Musâ de Zâhedan, Ali Mohammad, Barekat de Sarbâz ), Abdulghâfur d'Iranshahr, Aliok de Châbahâr, Heydar de Shâhrak, Tolu, Nur Mohammad, Loqmân, Abdolbâqi, Dorr Mohammad, Dâden, Dâru, Khamisâ... Balutcyistan.

Sitar. Indian sitar.

Performers: Ravi Shankar, India - Narenda Bataju, India - Pramod Kumar, India -

Tanbur / turkish tanbur / tembur / tumbur / tembûr (Afghanistan ).

Similar to the lute with a long neck.

Performers: kurdish musicians as temo, Nasir, Bedirxan - Gamze Koprek, Turkia -

Tar / panjtar ( tar with a very long neck ).

Performers: Dariush Tala'i, Iran - Jalil Shahnaz, Iran - Ahmadnal Arbi, Morocco - Narimam Hodjaty - Madjid Derakhshani, Iran -

Veena. ( bin - sarasvati veena ) Northern India.

Performers: Raajeswari Padmanabhan, India -

Index