Ney

The Nay or Ney (depending on the transliteration in Persian or Arabic نی ناي, DMG Nay, pipe ' ) is an end-blown flute that is used in Persian, Arabic and Turkish music and essentially just an open tube of the pile tube ( Arundo donax L. botanical name ) is.

Design

The design and the played scale differ slightly depending on the region:

• The Arab Nay, there is only an open tube without a real mouthpiece, but the edges are ground down to the sound generator.

• The Turkish Ney is equipped since the 11th century, mainly with a mouthpiece made ​​of horn, but also from bone, ivory or wood, but now also made ​​of plastic. The mouthpieces horn to produce the most authentic sound.

• The Persian Nay ( used in Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and other countries in the region ), usually made ​​of a sechsknotigen piece of pipe, has a generally brass existing ( but often cut from X-ray film in practice ) Mouthpiece (Persian sari ) and differs from the Arab and Turkish instruments mainly by the intraoral technique of tone production and a total of six instead of seven finger holes.

• In folk music in the Maghreb, the Arabic form of the Nay as Gasba or Guesba is known. The instrument with six, rarely seven to nine holes above and one thumb hole below is played in sides slightly inclined position. It is a popular tool for pastoralists and comes in the ceremonies of the Sufi brotherhoods together with the frame drum Bendir used.

Play

Since the required mood of Nay used by oriental sound system ( maqam or Dastgah ) depends, it is built in different lengths and thus in different pitches, but also different intervals. Therefore, many Nayspieler have a whole set of different flutes, consisting usually of six flutes.

The Nay is ( with the exception of the Iranian variant) is blown directly at the end of the open pipe. The pitch is not one after the other from the bottom opening to the above, produced by covering and opening of holes with your fingers with fork handles, ie. The characteristic feature of this Anblas and Flötenart the pitch can also be affected by changes in the oral cavity and lips in unchanged finger position and indeed up to about one whole step up or down. This allows a plurality of intermediate colors. NaY is inclined ( left or right ) is held in front of the mouth and then blown to the air flow strikes the opposite edge of the tube opening. Different octaves are produced in a different Überblastechnik by sharp blowing.

The Nay plays today in classical music of the mentioned cultural circles as well as in the modern " pan-Arab " pop music an important role. Their existence is until the third century BC in Egyptian culture space, demonstrated for the Assyrian to the 5th century BC.

Their sound is usually perceived as complaining or longing. Just as the pipe from his "home", the reed was cut, symbolizing his sound the longing of the soul separated from the oneness of the spiritual seekers according to their original home. In music, mainly of Turkish Sufi Order ( Sufi brotherhoods ) ( for example, the Mevlevis and Dscherrahis ), it plays a central role. It is called by the Sufis, therefore, " the prolonged breathing of God."

The instrument should not be confused with the Romanian pan flute Nai or the Turkish short oboe Mey. In Uzbekistan, a flute is called wooden Nay.

The pitches of the Nay

By default there are 7 Nayflöten and they contribute in Arabic the following names:

In Turkish, they bear the following names: