Ghaval
(not to be confused with qawwali music) the Azerbaijani frame drum
is played in Azerbaijani folk and art music. In folk music of Azerbaijan
Ashigh (poet-musician) sings and plays on gopuz (nine-stringed long-necked
lute) and sometimes composes poems in different festive occasions.
The drum that usually accompanies the Ashigh is ghaval. In Azerbaijani
art music a traditional ensemble contains a singer, which plays on
ghaval and two instrumentalists, one plays on tar (long-necked lute)
and the other plays on kamancheh (bowed spike fiddle). In modern art
music of Azerbaijan an ensemble can contain more than two instrumentalists.
Usually the drum that accompanies the modern ensemble is naghara (a
kind of cylindrical drum that is called in Armenia dhol).
Ghaval is the same as Persian dayereh. In Persia (Iran) there are different
types of frame drum. But only daf is considered as the only national frame
drum. It is unfortunate that ghaval is not integrated into Persian art music
like the daf, though some ghaval players particularly the late Mahmoud Farnam
tried to do this by accompanying the great masters of Persian art music, Ostad
Eghbal Azar (very skillful vocalist) and Ostad Gholam Hossein Bigchekhani (very
skillful tar player).
The history of dayereh goes back to many centuries. An engraved
bronze cup from Lorestan at the Notional Museum of Iran, Tehran,
portrays a double ney (reed pipes), chang (harp), and dayereh in
a shrine or court processional, as similarly documented in Egypt,
Elam, and Babylonia where music involved the utilization of large
orchestral ensembles.
Some
believe that the word dayereh comes from the Pahlavi (Persian pre-Islamic
language) name dareh. Abu Saeed Abolkheir (967-1048), the poet,
has mentioned in his works to the word dayereh as a drum.
Ghaval was not considered a solo instrument. After the effort
of Ostad Latif Tahmasebi-zadeh ghaval has found an independent
role.
Ghaval's frame is wooden and the skin stretched on it can be goatskin
or fish skin, though today the head of modern ghavals is synthetic
(plastic) because the skin-headed ghaval is sensitive to changes
in humidity. Some metal rings are incorporated into the drum to
provide jingle. Its is much larger than Western tambourine but
smaller than daf.
Basic Rhythms of Ghaval
There are four basic rhythms in Azerbaijani art music.
Diringi: Diringi is a light rhythm for
dance music, though it is found in vocal music also. It is played
in both low and high tempo, depending on the occasion of the performance.
Diringi can be considered the same as Persian Reng.
Mahni: Mahni is in fact the rhythmic
form for vocal music. The most famous rhythm for Mahni has been
linked here. Mahni can be considered the same as Persian Tasnif.
Please note that I have played the rhythm in slow tempo for instructional
purposes.
Glossary
Ashigh: (Pl. Ashighlar) Some believe
that Ashigh comes from the Arabic word eshgh (love). While the
others believe that Ashigh comes from Ashk and Ashkanian. They
reach the history of Ashigh to the Ashkanian period (Parthian period
247 B.C.-224 A.D.) and they mention to this point that Ashghabad
(capital of today Republic of Turkmenistan) had been one of the
most important centers of Ashkanian. A famous tradition in the
art of Ashighlar is really wonderful. This tradition that is called
de'ishma is a kind of musical debate. According to a very old tradition
of the skillful Ashigh-s, occasionally the Ashigh-s do this musical
debate (de'ishma) and every Ashigh that loses should give his instrument
(the saz or the gopuz) to the winner and leave his job. In this
musical debate to compose poems by improvisation is often the winning
trump.
Gopuz: Gopuz is the long-necked lute
to be played by the Ashigh in Azerbaijan. It is called Saz too
and Saz is generic name for musical instrument in Iran, Turkey
and India. There is a similar instrument to gopuz in Turkey that
is called Baglama.
Kamancheh: Kamancheh is bowed spike
fiddle to be played in Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Central Asia,
Turkey and Egypt. Kaman literally means bow. Many musicologists
consider the kamancheh the predecessor of the violin.
Qawwali: Qawwali or ghawwali or kawali
is the Islamic devotional song. It is a lively, light style, which
has a popular appeal for both Muslims and Hindus alike.
Tar: lTar is a long-necked lute to be
played in Iran. Its Persian version sometimes is called tar-e-shiraz
(tar of Shiraz which is one of the most important cities of Persia
and located in SW) and its Azerbaijani version is called tar-e-ghafghaz
(tar of Caucasus). Tar literally means string, chord and so on.
The word tar can be see in some other musical instruments such
as ektar, dotar, setar, sitar, khoshtar and guitar. Not to be confused
with Egyptian tar witch is a kind of frame drum.
References:
Peyman Nasehpour, Personal Interview with Ostad Latif Tahmasebi-zadeh,
Aug. 1994-Aug. 1995.
Mehdi Setayeshgar, Vazhe-Name-ye-Musighi-ye-Iran Zamin, Tehran,
Vol. I (1995) & Vol. II (1996)
Ghaval
(not to be confused with qawwali music) the Azerbaijani frame drum
is played in Azerbaijani folk and art music. In folk music of Azerbaijan
Ashigh (poet-musician) sings and plays on gopuz (nine-stringed long-necked
lute) and sometimes composes poems in different festive occasions.
The drum that usually accompanies the Ashigh is ghaval. In Azerbaijani
art music a traditional ensemble contains a singer, which plays on
ghaval and two instrumentalists, one plays on tar (long-necked lute)
and the other plays on kamancheh (bowed spike fiddle). In modern art
music of Azerbaijan an ensemble can contain more than two instrumentalists.
Usually the drum that accompanies the modern ensemble is naghara (a
kind of cylindrical drum that is called in Armenia dhol).
Some
believe that the word dayereh comes from the Pahlavi (Persian pre-Islamic
language) name dareh. Abu Saeed Abolkheir (967-1048), the poet,
has mentioned in his works to the word dayereh as a drum.