Blul

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Blul ( Armenian Բլուլ ), also sring ( սրինգ ), is an Armenian wooden flute . The traditional melody instrument of the shepherds is mainly played in folk music as a soloist and in an ensemble. The flute, like the Armenian short oboe duduk, enjoys a good reputation as a noble instrument of chamber music in contrast to the funnel oboe zurna , which, with its low social status, is used in loud entertainment music outdoors.

Design and style of play

The blul has no mouthpiece. It is held diagonally downwards and blown over a sharp edge with the mouth closed on one side. The cylindrical play tube, open at both ends, is preferably turned from apricot wood. Other materials for Armenian flutes are reed and metal. The length is 38 to 65 centimeters, according to some data up to 70 centimeters. The diameter of the hole expands from 10 to 15 millimeters at the near end to 15-20 millimeters at the lower opening. There are nine finger holes on the top, the two lower ones not being covered. There is also an opposite thumb hole. Variants with fewer holes (five and seven) are also common. According to the pitch, blul are usually distinguished with the lowest notes C, D ♭ , D and E ♭ . The pitches are diatonic and correspond to the Aeolian mode . The player creates the intermediate notes of the chromatic scale by partially covering the finger holes. The blul can easily be overblown , which significantly increases the range. The middle pitches can be raised by a fifth or octave , the upper tones by a third . A vibrato created the instrument by rapid finger movements or shaking. The sound is velvety-soft, intoxicating and somewhat nasal.

Origin and Distribution

Armenian core- gap flute shvi made of reed

Variations of the Semitic consonant spellings blr and brl with the word environment “shine”, “radiate light” appear in Syrian as bĕrūlā or bĕlūrā (“crystal”, “precious stone”) and in the Mandaean language as bilur, bilura, billur . The name beryl for a shiny crystal also goes back to this root. The Syrian word bilura stands for a "wind instrument in which the sound is generated by breathing air." The shepherd's flute played by Kurds in southeastern Turkey is related to bilûr . In the Turkish province of Muş means bülür a certain flute melody. A regional name for a Turkish shepherd's flute in Bitlis is bilor . In northeast Iraq, a beaked flute is called blur . The Armenian word sring (“shepherd's flute”) is derived from ancient Greek σῦριγξ , Latin syrinx (“pipe”, “pipe”), an old name for the panpipe that refers to the Greek nymph Syrinx and is believed to have a Phrygian origin.

The Azerbaijani counterpart is the shepherd's flute tutak , which is a maximum of 35 centimeters shorter, made of reed or wood. It is also known regionally as duduk (the same name as the Armenian short oboe ), sumsu and blul . In Ordubad in the southern region of Nakhichevan this flute is Shuva called. The best known name for related shepherd flutes in Turkey and the Balkans is kaval . The shepherd's flute salamuri , which is up to 40 centimeters long, is mainly found in eastern Georgia . The oriental flute nay is assigned more to classical music, oriental flutes played in folk music are called shabbaba .

Shvi or Tutak ( t'ut'ak ) is called the Armenian nuclear fission flute . It consists of a typically 32 centimeter long play tube made of apricot wood, a similar solid wood or plant cane and has seven finger holes on the top and one thumb hole.

The oldest musical instruments found in what is now Armenia include bird-bone flutes. At around 1000 BC A flute is dated from a stork's leg, which came to light in 1962 during excavations in Garni . An in 14./15. Century BC Bone flute in eastern Georgia, dated to the 3rd century BC, which lay in the grave of a young shepherd and is regarded as the forerunner of the salamuri . From the 5th century BC BC bird bone flutes were unearthed in Dvin .

Medieval flutes produced pitches similar to those of today. As in the past, Armenian folk music, including the music to accompany dances, is predominantly vocal. Rural folk songs are generally monophonic and are performed by a soloist or a choir singing in unison . The rural instrumental music, the melodies of which are played on the blul, the tutak or the duduk , corresponds to the pattern of vocal music. The slow-tempo melodies often sound wistful regardless of the numerous regional forms.

The aschugh , a singer of epic songs and a successor to the medieval gusan since the 17th century , only plays stringed instruments such as saz , chonguri (similar to the Georgian chonguri ) or tar . No wind instruments are part of his accompanying orchestra. In contrast, in the chamber orchestras of urban entertainment music , the blul can play the string instruments mentioned together with the spiked violin k'yamancha , the Arabic kink-necked lute ʿūd and the trapeze zither kanun . The cylinder drum dhol (related to the Georgian doli ), the frame drum ghaval or the pair of kettle drums naghara provide the rhythm . Like the instruments, melodies derived from the mugham also come from Persian-Islamic culture. Urban instrumental music goes back to the oriental instrumental trios sazandar (named after the long-necked lute saz , Armenian nvagurd ), which have been widespread in the South Caucasus since the 19th century .

Shepherds played the blul solo in the pasture. They chose the melodies according to the occasion. The shepherds drove their cattle to the pasture or to the water places with a cheerful melody. They also blew the flute when the sheepdog was made aware of a danger or the lambs were to be led to the mother animals.

In general, music was believed to have magical abilities, which is why music played a role in healing rituals. In Armenian folk tales there are magical flutes with which princes could be seduced or the heroes' evil adversaries could be tempted to dance until they were exhausted.

literature

  • Robert At'Ayan, Jonathan McCollum: Blul . In: Grove Music Online , January 13, 2015

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert At'Ayan, Jonathan McCollum, 2015
  2. ↑ Kjell Aartun: Studies on Ugaritic Lexicography. With parallels in the history of culture and religion. Part II: Officials, god names, god epithets, cult terms, metals, animals, verbal terms. New comparable inscriptions: A. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, p. 60
  3. ↑ Laurence Picken : Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey. Oxford University Press, London 1975, pp. 412, 418
  4. ^ Hrach Martirosyan: Origins and historical development of the Armenian language. 2014, pp. 1–23, here p. 6
  5. ^ Saadat Abdullayeva: Shepherd's Pipe Sounds in Orchestras. (PDF; 396 kB) IRS, November 2012, p. 54f
  6. ↑ Robert At'ayan: shvi. In: Grove Music Online , May 25, 2016
  7. ^ Emma Petrosian, Ian Quinn: Theatrical and Musical Features of Armenian Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. In: RIdIM / RCMI Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 2. Research Center for Music Iconography, City University of New York, Fall 1994, pp. 39-53, here pp. 52f
  8. ↑ Joseph Jordania: Georgia . In: Thimothy Rice, James Porter, Chris Goertzen (Eds.): Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Volume 8: Europe . Routledge, New York / London 2000, p. 839
  9. ↑ Alina Pahlevanian: Armenia. Folk music. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Vol. 2. Macmillan Publishers, London 2001, pp. 10, 12, 14
  10. ↑ Alina Pahlevanian: Armenia. Folk Music, p. 18
  11. ↑ Hripsime Pikichian: The Call of zurna . In: Levon Abrahamian, Nancy Sweezy (Eds.): Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2001, p. 243