INTRODUCTION OF TURKISH MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SAZ AND BAĞLAMA

Saz (Turkish Long Neck Lute)

The Saz is the grandfather of the Greek Bouzouki. It’s originated in Central Asia where Turks lived before their westward migration. Like the guitar in Spain and the bouzouki in Greece, the Saz is the most popular stringed instrument in Turkey. Although similar in shape to the Greek Bouzouki, the construction, size and sound of the Saz is different. You need a baglama saz to be able to play the microtones (Perde) of Arabicmusic. These instruments have traditional tied frets that are movable, and 3 courses of strings.

Baglama

 
Baglama is the most commonly used string folk instrument in Turkey. It takes different names according to theregions and according to its size such as Baglama, Divan Sazi, Bozuk, Çögür, Kopuz Irizva, Cura, Tambura, etc.

Cura is the smallest member of the baglama family with the highest pitched sound. The member one size bigger than cura which gives a sound that is one octave lower than cura is the tambura. And the one with the deepest sound is the Divan sazi whose sound is one octave lower compared to tambura.
Baglama has three main parts called Boat, Chest and Neck. boat part is generally made from mulberry trees as well as from woods of juniper, beech, spruce or walnut. The Chest part is made from spruce and the sap section from homespun or juniper.
There are pieces called burgu (screw) at the end of the sap which is opposite to tekne part to which the strings are tied. These screws are used for tuning. There are pitches on the sap tied with fish line. Baglama is played with a Mizrap or Tezene made from cherry wood bark or plastic and fingers are used in some regions. The later technique is called Selpe.
There are three string groups on Baglama in groups of two or three. These string groups can be tuned in a variety of ways. For example in the tuning style called baglama Düzeni, the strings in the lower group give ‘la’, middle group strings and upper group strings give ‘mi’ notes. Besides this type of tuning there are 
Black Order, Order are four marbles, Abdal Layout, Layout etc Rast. styles.