Ogur Baglama

Ogur Baglama

Ogur Baglama which we also call it ‘’saz’’ has an important role in Turkish music bands and ethnically music soundtracks. It is a kind of traditional musical instruments and ethnically music sound for folk music and composite music. Its rhythm and melody are the main sounds of Turkish folk music. Bağlama is the harmony of Turkish folk songs and pop songs. Baglama is similar to Greek bouzouki.

This Ogur Baglama is from juniper tree wood. The bowl length is 14.1’’. Right hand playing. Soundboard is completely hand carved with mahogany wood.  Our artisan is carving all the musical instruments using musical golden ratio to get the perfect sound. He is a master traditional musical instrument maker and player. Government asks him  to join in fairs and exhibitions to show his best musical instruments. You may need to use plectrum.

The baglama is very much related to the tambur. It is mainly used in folk music. It is the most common instrument in Turkey.

The Best Musical Instruments In Turkey, Folk Music

It is important to make clear that Turkey is a very rich country in terms of musical traditions and its traditional musical instruments reflect the harmony of the cultures.

The tambur is a kind of long-necked, fretted, plucked lute. It has three double strings with a low isolated one which tuned as A2, D2 (or E2), A2 and A1 for the single low string. You need to use a plectrum and only with the bottom A2 double string, the other strings are used as resonators. It is very curious that the soundboard has neither a sound hole nor braces, also the frets are movable and their number may vary. The sound is not so loud but it has a very nice hollow and deep character. Many people admire the sound.

The oud is at the core of all middle eastern music and makam based music. The Turkish oud is a bit smaller than the Arabic oud, When we compare ouds with similar instruments like the European lute is the lack of frets. This characteristic feature allows to play all the complex pitch scales and nuances of the makams. The Turkish oud has five double strings plus a single string at the low end. The five double strings are generally tuned as B2, E3, A3, D4, F#2 (or A2) and the low isolated string, called bam, is generally tuned as C#2 or D2.

The Turkish ney is very popular in Sufi music. It is an end-blown flute and difficult to play in an oblique in order to make it sound. Ney has a mouthpiece that creates a bowl-shaped cavity. It is from water buffalo horn. Ney has six holes in the front and one in the back. The construction of the instrument is quite sophisticated

The Traditional Musical Instruments, Turkish Music

The Turkish kanun is like a zither but with twenty-six courses of strings and three strings per course. It is plucked with the fingernails or with two tortoise-shell picks, one in each hand. The performer actually changes the tuning of the strings during performance and that requires a lot of effort and exercise.

The baglama (saz) is similar to the tanbur but it is mainly  in folk music instrument and in fact is the most common instrument in Turkey.

An interesting hybrid instrument of oud and banjo is the cumbus like the oud is fretles and like the banjo has a metal resonator and a skin body head. It has a metallic resonant tone

All these traditional musical instruments have been evolving within the characteristics of makam music, thus the need for flexible tuning and for expressive monophonic playing