Tanbur (Turkish)

Tambur

Turkish tambur on the left
Other names	Tanbur, Ottoman tambur
Classification	String instrument
Playing range
Related instruments
Tambouras Tanbur Bağlama Saz Yaylı tanbur Tamburica
Musicians
Tanburi Büyük Osman Bey Şeyh Abdülhalim Efendi Tanburi İzak Efendi Tanburi Küçük Osman Bey Tanburi Numan Ağa Zeki Mehmed Ağa Oskiyam Tanburi Ali Efendi Tanburi Cemil Bey Kadı Fuad Efendi Refik Fersan Necdet Yaşar Ercüment Batanay İzzettin Ökte Birol Yayla Murat Aydemir Murat Salim Tokaç Özer Özel
Builders
Agop Ohanyan Baron Baronak (1834–1900) Aziz Mahmut Efendi (19th century) Artin Uzunyan (Harutyun) (1845 – ?) & Ohannes Uzunyan Vasil (1875–1915) Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş (1881–1947) Mehmet Murat Sümbüloğlu a.k.a. Murat Sümbül Usta (1884–1960) Üsküdarlı Mustafa Usta (1885–1935) Galip Sözen (1890 – ?) Cevdet Kozanoğlu (1896–1986) Onnik Garifyan (Küçüküner) (1900–?) Mustafa Sazer (1903–1981) Hadi Eroğluer (1910 -1990) Kumkapılı Ziya Usta (1910 – ?) Agâh İdem (1910? – ?) Haldun Menemencioğlu (1912–1972)

The Tambur (spelled in keeping with TDK conventions) is a fretted string instrument of Turkey and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. Like the ney, the armudi (lit. pear-shaped) kemençe and the kudüm, it constitutes one of the four instruments of the basic quartet of Turkish classical music a.k.a. Türk Sanat Müziği (lit. Turkish Artistic Music). Of the two variants, one is played with a plectrum (mızraplı tambur) and the other with a bow (yaylı tambur). The player is called a tamburî.

There are several hypotheses as to the origin of the instrument. One suggests that it descended from the kopuz, a string instrument still in use among the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and the Caspian region. The name itself derives from the tanbur (tunbur). Tanbur in turn might have descended from the Sumerian pantur. The name (and its variants such as tamboura, dombura) also denotes a wide spectrum of pear-shaped string instruments in Persia and Central Asia yet these share only their names with the Ottoman court instrument and in fact are more akin to bağlamas or sazes. In ancient Hittite texts, we come across a string instrument called tibula, which is most likely to have been the ancestor of the Ottoman court instrument via Byzantine tambouras. This latter hypothesis could also account for the favor the instrument received in the Ottoman court vis-à-vis its rival, the oud. As of the 17th century, the tanbur had already taken its present form and structure and assumed the preponderant role it still holds in Classical Turkish Music performance.

Tamburs are made almost entirely of wood. The shell (Tekne) is assembled from strips of hardwood called ribs joined edge to edge to form a semi-spherical body for the instrument. The number of ribs traditionally amounts to 17, 21 or 23, yet examples with slightly wider and consequently fewer ribs (7, 9 or 11) can also be found among older specimens. Traditionally, thinner strips called fileto are inserted between the ribs for ornamental purposes, but are not obligatory. The most common tonewood veneers used for rib-making are mahogany, flame maple, Persian walnut, Mecca balsam wood (Commiphora gileadensis), Spanish chestnut, Greek juniper, mulberry, Oriental plane, Indian rosewood and apricot. Ribs are assembled on the bottom wedge (tail) and the heel on which the fingerboard is mounted.