Monday, October 25, 2010

Traditional Melodies

Turkish sazImage via Wikipedia
The Turkish saz, sometimes called the bağlama, is a long-necked cousin of the Middle Eastern Oud and the Western renaissance lute. It's the signature sound of arabesque Turkish classical music.

Like a piece of art, the back of a saz often features bands of gorgeous wood in varieties of mulberry, juniper, beech, walnut or spruce and the neck can be embellished with intarsia. The electro-saz, on the other hand, can look like something out of a rock band.  Kind of like a guitar, the saz comes in different colors and sizes and there are people who can make those few simple strings do magical things.

The clip from TRT is pretty traditional, until the musician switches to the "Pink Panther" theme and then on to some other riffs. Enjoy!

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4 comments:

Jessica Bell said...

Wow. Amazing sound! So much more twangy than the bouzouki. I like!

Jules said...

Man, I'd love to have a guitar made like that. The sound is awesome too :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

LTM said...

oh, that's nice--it's a bit twangy, but it's so gentle... not harsh. Love it~ :o)

Aleta said...

I love the sound and love the design - it's beautiful!

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