Dotar

Iranian dotar

Dotar ( Persian دوتار, DMG dotār , 'the two-stringed [instrument]' or dutār , short form of Persian طنبور دوتاره, DMG ṭanbūr -e dotāre , 'the two-string long-necked lute') is a long-necked lute that is played in Iranian , Afghan and Tajik music as well as in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan . Relatives of this mostly two-stringed plucked instrument in Central Asia are called dombra .

Design and distribution

The dotar occurs mainly in the area of the historical region of Khorasan . The dotar ( dotār-hā ) of the eastern Iranian city of Torbat-e Jām are famous . As the name do-tār suggests, it has two strings that are tuned a fourth apart. A typical mood would be e - a. The instrument can also be tuned higher, such as g - c. It is mainly played on the higher string (in the example a), whereby the fourth (here d) or the fifth (here e) is taken as the root note. The lower string can be retuned accordingly to produce a drone tone . Especially on the Turkmen dotar in Northern Iran, the lower string is often also included, so that chords arise, often parallels with quarters . This gives Turkmen music its own tonal character. In Afghanistan the high string is called zil and the low string bam .

A dotar is about one meter long, the body about 15-20 cm wide and 13-17 cm deep. Here, too, there are major regional differences. The neck is provided with frets made of gut, nylon or, less often, wire, which are mostly arranged chromatically . On some dotar there are no intermediate tones, especially between d 'and e' and a 'and h'. On the other hand, some Iranian dotar even have so-called quarter tones . The frets can be partially moved so that quarter tones can also be played on dotar , which do not have all tones as frets, for example: a - h - c - c♯ - d - e - f▹ - g - a - h - c - C♯ - d - e, wherein f▹ the sori - tone between f and f♯ designated. The range is up to two octaves .

The dotar is struck with the fingers of the right hand, not with a plectrum . The finger technique can be very virtuoso, such as tapping with the index finger, thumb, rolling all fingers down or up, or combinations thereof.

The Afghan dutār has a narrower body and, with the same name, underwent a profound change in design and use in the middle of the 20th century. Around 1950 the two strings were expanded to three, of which one is melody and two drone strings (tuning a - a - e). Gut strings were replaced by steel strings. The number of frets has been increased to give a chromatic scale of semitones. Around 1965, according to general opinion, Karim Dutari, a musician from Herat , developed a larger Dutār with 14 strings. The additional attached sympathetic strings should amplify the sound. The change in taste shows the influence of popular music broadcast on Radio Afghanistan . In addition, Karim wanted to be able to perform the solo pieces of music he played on the Rubāb on the Dutār.

The dutār has since been played with a metal wire pick on the index finger, which makes the sound stronger. Relatives of the Iranian dotar in Uzbekistan and Xinjiang in China are much larger and have silk strings.

The same name dotar , also dotara or dotora , has long-necked lutes that are used in the folk music of Bengal and by the Bauls . These instruments have two strings and correspond to the single-stringed long ectar . Plucked instruments with four strings in north Indian folk music that are more like mandolin are also called dotar .

Well-known Dotar players

literature

John Baily : Recent changes in the dutār of Herat. In: Asian Music , Volume 8, Number 1, 1976, pp. 29-64.
John Baily: Movement Patterns in Playing the Herati Dutar. In: John Blacking (Ed.): The Anthropology of the Body. Association of Social Anthropologists Monograph, 15, Academic Press, London 1977, pp. 275-330
Jean During: The dotâr family in Central Asia. Organological and musicological survey. In: Porte Akademik. Organoloji sayasi, Istanbul 2012, pp. 93-102
Farrokh Vahabzadeh: The Music of the Mulberry. Wood Science, Know-How and Symbolism in Instrument-Making in Khorāssān (Iran) and Central Asia . In: Marco A. Perez, Emanuelle Marconi (eds.): Wooden Musical Instruments. Different forms of knowledge. Book of End of WoodMusICK COST Action FP1302. Cité de la Musique - Philharmonie de Paris, Paris 2018, pp. 399–414

Discography

Asie Centrale / Central Asia. Les Maîtres du dotâr / The Masters of the Dotâr. Ouzbékistan - Tadjikistan - Iran (Khorâsân) - Turkménistan. Jean During (recordings and text) Archives internationales de musique populaire, Geneva. AIMP XXVI, 1993

Web links

Commons : Dotar - collection of images, videos and audio files

Jean During: Dotâr. The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS)
Peyman Nasehpour: Persian Dotar .

Individual evidence

^ Felix Hoerburger: Long-necked lutes in Afghanistan. In: Asian Music , Vol. 6, No. 1/2 (Perspectives on Asian Music: Essays in Honor of Dr. Laurence ER Picken ), 1975, pp. 28–37, here p. 32
^ John Baily: Music of Afghanistan: Professional Musicians in the City of Herat. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1988, pp. 31-33

[1] Felix Hoerburger: Long-necked lutes in Afghanistan. In: Asian Music , Vol. 6, No. 1/2 (Perspectives on Asian Music: Essays in Honor of Dr. Laurence ER Picken ), 1975, pp. 28–37, here p. 32

[2] John Baily: Music of Afghanistan: Professional Musicians in the City of Herat. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1988, pp. 31-33