Mike's Oud Forums

Yaylı Tanbur taksimi on youtube

Monty88 - 10-9-2006 at 08:20 PM

Hi guys,

I've been adding videos of me playing different instruments on youtube, so please check them out and let me know what you think!

Heres my latest, a taksimin on yayli tanbur, in what I think is nikriz.:shrug: this is where I need your feedback :)).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkfeUU2UU6o

If you go onto my profile, there are a few other videos of me playing bağlama saz, one oud video and a cretan laouto clip.
I will add some more soon, more oud stuff and a cümbüş clip as well.

Cheers,
Paddy

Greg - 10-9-2006 at 09:40 PM

Terrific stuff Paddy.

You must have great teachers and there is no doubt you are a great student.

Regards,

Greg

Peyman - 10-10-2006 at 06:11 AM

Very nice. Did the bow come with the tanbur? I have been looking for a nicer bow.

Monty88 - 10-10-2006 at 06:43 AM

No, that bow belongs to a friend of mine who plays the Cretan lyra.
He bought it in Greece for his Violyra (four stringed lyra tuned like violin) and said it cost 70 euros. It is much like the bow used on the classical kemenche. It is harder to use than a standard violin bow, as you have to pull the hair inwards to have the tension to bow the strings. However, the sound is really nice, much mellower and really smoother. I like the sound better, though apparently a cello bow is the way to go on the yayli tanbur.
I'm having fun experimenting with different bows to get different sounds.

You have a cumbus tanbur right?

adamgood - 10-10-2006 at 10:34 AM

Paddy do you have a sound post in your yayli tanbur? can you open the back somehow and move it around? just curious.

adam

Peyman - 10-10-2006 at 12:00 PM

I do have a cumbus tanbur. I use a bow that came with a karadeniz kemence (aka pontic lyra). It's not fancy. I don't like the pointy end, I always think I am about to puncture the face with it. Cello bow sounds like a good idea but the point of having a loose haired bow is so you can change the tone by tightening and loosening your grip on the hair.

Monty88 - 10-13-2006 at 01:35 AM

Adam, yes actually There is a sound post there.

That cumbus-tanbur is not one from the factory. It belonged to my saz/tanbur teacher in melbourne. A friend of mine bought it off of him, and he couldn't deal with the instrument so I am borrowing it and traded it with him for a smaller, cumbus-saz.

My teacher made the neck himself for that one, and it's very good. He just took a regular cumbus apart and put that neck on, which is what most of the players did before the cumbus company started actually producing them readily available. The back of the body, where there is the little bubble or dip in the centre, he actually cut that out somehow and theres a big (and a bit rough) looking hole there and on the bowing side of the bridge. It makes an ENORMOUS difference, without the soundpost, the instrument sounded much shriller and I didn't like it. I put the post back in, and the difference was unbelievable. More like a politki lyra, that really smooth and mid-rangey sound. Try it out. I'm going to buy a cumbus tanbur for myself from the shop, the one they make with the wooden back. I played one there last time and it was really nice actually.

Monty88 - 10-13-2006 at 01:38 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Lnfkcl0u0

By the way, just put it up today. Cümbüş Taksimi, a few blue notes in there and once again trying to do too much :rolleyes: but yeah, enjoy!

Peyman - 10-13-2006 at 09:47 AM

Well done.
Thanks for the information too. I noticed your tanbur looked much nicer than the one I have. I am not sure if I am following the sound post idea. Did you put a sound post in the tanbur like a violin? How does it stay in place? This is interesting. In other places, where they use skin tops, sometimes they fold a handkerchief and put it behind the bridge where the strings meet the bridge to dampen some of the vibrations.
Where do you live that you're so close to a shop? I asked someone at Canakya for the price of a wooden back yayli and it was way over my budget. But those are very nice and definitely worth it.

adamgood - 10-13-2006 at 03:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Monty88
Adam, yes actually There is a sound post there.

The back of the body, where there is the little bubble or dip in the centre, he actually cut that out somehow and theres a big (and a bit rough) looking hole there and on the bowing side of the bridge. It makes an ENORMOUS difference, without the soundpost, the instrument sounded much shriller and I didn't like it. I put the post back in, and the difference was unbelievable.


Paddy cool you're giving me this info. I have a cumbus tanbur that was intended for using mizrab but it's useless to me now that i have a wooden mizrab tanbur.

So i've been wanting to cut out the bubble thing on the back! so i can put in a post and start bowing away. so...that tanbur of yours, the bubble is gone and there's nothing covering up the hole? and it still has good volume?

poor man's yayli tanbur...

Monty88 - 10-13-2006 at 08:48 PM

I'll take some picture for you.

Can you get us a picture of your instrument collection adam?

Monty88 - 10-13-2006 at 08:54 PM

Oh Peyman,

I played one at Cankayas shop in Tünel last July.
The sound was very very good, and it was nice to play.
But, they were very very expensive.

The cumbus shop also make the same one pretty much.
It has a staved wooden back, if you have ever seen the wooden cumbus instruments, and a regular skin top found on the cumbus. This had an open hole in the back, and was a very nice sounding instrument also. It was roughly 600 maybe? I'm going to buy one when I'm next there.