{{Short description|Middle Eastern end-blown flute}} {{Other uses|Ney (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox instrument | name = Ney | names = | image = Persian ney with 6 holes.jpg | image_capt = Kurdish ney with six holes (one on the back) | background = Ancient | classification = End-blown | hornbostel_sachs = | hornbostel_sachs_desc = | inventors = | developed = | range =180px|center | related = | musicians = | builders = | articles = }} The '''ney''' ({{IPAc-en|n|eɪ}} {{respell|NAY}}; {{langx|fa|نی}}) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in traditional Kurdish, Persian, Turkish, Jewish, Arab, and Egyptian music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played for over 4,500 years, dating back to ancient Egypt,<ref>{{Cite web |title=ANE TODAY - 201801 - The Earliest Music in Ancient Egypt |url=https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/01/earliest-music-egypt/ |access-date=2022-09-18 |website=American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920170858/https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/01/earliest-music-egypt/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use.<ref>{{Citation |title=Prehistoric music |date=2022-09-06 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prehistoric_music&oldid=1108740429 |work=Wikipedia |language=en |access-date=2022-09-18}}</ref>
The ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or giant reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. The Arabic ney is played without any mouthpiece. This contrasts with the Turkish ney that sometimes have a brass, horn, or plastic mouthpiece which is placed at the top to protect the wood, to produce a steeper sound, and protect it from damage, with a better edge to blow on. Modern neys may instead be made of metal or plastic tubing. The pitch of the ney varies depending on the region and the finger arrangement. A highly skilled ney player, called ''neyzen'', can reach more than three octaves, though it is more common to have several "helper" neys to cover different pitch ranges or to facilitate playing technically difficult passages in other dastgahs or maqams.
In Romanian, this instrument is called "fluier"; the word ''nai''<ref name="DEX">''[http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=nai nai]'' in ''Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române'', Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998.</ref> is applied to a curved pan flute, while an end-blown flute resembling the Persian ney is referred to as caval.<ref name="DEXcaval">''[http://dexonline.ro/search.php?cuv=caval caval]'' in ''Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române'', Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică "Iorgu Iordan", Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998.</ref>
==Typology== thumb|right|120px|Ney, from a 19th-century Qajun Iran tile The typical Persian ney has six holes, one of which is on the back. Arabic and Turkish neys normally have seven holes, six in front and one thumb-hole in the back.
The intervals between the holes can be minor and major seconds, as well as microtonal intervals (roughly 3 quarter tones) which could be referred to as neutral seconds in more western terms. Although microtones (and broader pitch inflections) are also achieved via partial hole-covering, changes of embouchure, or changing the instrument's positioning and the blowing angle.<ref name="from_neyf">{{Cite web|title=Fingering of two popular scales on two common Turkish ney types |author=Satilmis Yayla |work=fromnorway.net |format=XML+XSL: needs to be opened in MSIE version 6,7,8, or 9 |access-date=2015-09-08 |url=http://www.fromnorway.net/yaylas/zurna/neyfings.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412133840/http://www.fromnorway.net/yaylas/zurna/neyfings.html |archive-date=2016-04-12 }}</ref> Microtonal inflection is common and crucial to various traditions of taqsim (improvisation in the same scale before a piece is played).
Neys are constructed in various keys. In the Egyptian and Arabic system, there are seven common ranges (the names are referring to arabic note names, not maqams):
# Rast, the longest and lowest-pitched which is roughly equivalent to C in the Western equal temperament system. # Dukah in D, the most common one. # Busalik in E # Jaharka in F # Nawa in G # Hussayni in A # Ajam in B (or B♭)
Advanced players will typically own a set of several neys in various keys, although it is possible (albeit difficult) to play fully chromatically on any instrument. A slight exception to this rule is found in the extreme lowest range of the instrument, where the fingering becomes quite complex and the transition from the first octave (fundamental pitches) to the second is rather awkward.
==Kargı düdük== The ''kargı düdük'' is a long reed flute whose origin, according to legend, is connected with Alexander the Great, and a similar instrument existed in ancient Egypt. Kargı in Turkish means reed (''Arundo donax'', also known as Giant reed). The sound of the gargy-tuyduk has much in common with the two-voiced kargyra. During the playing of the gargy-tuyduk the melody is clearly heard, while the lower droning sound is barely audible.
The allay epic songs have been described by the Turkologist N. Baskakov who divides them into three main types:
*Kutilep kayla: the second sound is a light drone. *Sygyrtzip kayla: with a second whistling sound like the sound of a flute. *Kargyrlap kayla: in which the second sound can be defined as hissing.<ref>N. Baskakov, ''Altay folklore and literature'' Gorno-Altaysk, 1948, p.II</ref> The sound of the Turkmen gargy-tuyduk is most like the Altay Kargyrkip kayla. The garg-tuyduk can have six finger holes and a length of 780 mm or five finger holes and a length of 550 mm. The range of the garg-tuyduk includes three registers: *The lowest register – "non-working" – is not used during the playing of a melody. *The same as on the "non-working" register but an octave higher. *High register from mi of the second octave to ti.
==Pamiri nay== The Pamiri nay ({{langx|tg|най}}) is a transverse flute made of wood or, in eastern Badakhshan, eagle bone. Although the name is similar to the Arabic end-blown nay, it might well be that this side-blown flute is more related to Chinese flutes such as the dizi—perhaps via a Mongol link.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Ethnomusicology%20data/Papers/Worldwide/The%20worldwide%20distribution%20of%20the%20transverse%20flute.pdf |title=The Worldwide distribution of the transverse flute |access-date=2011-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121111822/http://www.rogerblench.info/Ethnomusicology%20data/Papers/Worldwide/The%20worldwide%20distribution%20of%20the%20transverse%20flute.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
It is used for solo melodies as well as with orchestras and for vocal accompaniment. One of the main uses of the nay is for the most original form of the traditional performance ''falaki''.
These are brief melodic sessions which can express complaints against destiny, the injustice of heaven or exile to distant places, and sentiments such as the sorrow of a mother separated from her daughter, the sorrow of a lover torn from her/his beloved, etc.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pamirtours.tj/sam/instruments.htm |title=Main Page |website=www.pamirtours.tj |access-date=2010-06-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706082817/http://www.pamirtours.tj/sam/instruments.htm |archive-date=2010-07-06 }}</ref>
==Other forms with similar names== [[File:Pastimes of Central Asians. A Musician Playing a Nai, a Flute-like Instrument WDL10825.png|thumb|This ''ney'' from Russian Turkestan, about 1872, was a transverse flute.]] The ney of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Karakalpakstan is a transverse flute that can be made of different materials, often indicated by a prefix in the name. The agach-nai is a wooden flute, the garau-nai a bamboo flute, the misnai a flute made of sheet iron and the brindgzhi-nai a brass flute.
The Romanian pan flute ''nai'' consists of at least 20 to over 30 pipes closed at the bottom, which are connected to each other in a slight arc.
==See also== *Kawala, a similar instrument used in Arabic music *Ottoman music *Tambin, a similar instrument used in West African music *Tin whistle *Tsuur, a similar instrument used in Mongolian music *Turkish ney *Washint, a similar instrument used in East African music
==References== {{Reflist}}
== General bibliography == *Effat, Mahmoud (2005). ''Beginner's Guide to the Nay''. Translated by Jon Friesen; originally published in Arabic in 1968. Pitchphork Music. {{ISBN|0-9770192-0-9}}. *Marwan Hassan (2010). ''Kawala & Nay: Die Ur-Flöten der Menschheit: Bauen, stimmen, pflegen und spielen''. [German: ''Explaining How to Build and Play the Kawala, Saluang, or Ghab and Ney-Flute'']
==External links== {{Commons category|Ney}} *{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Nay|volume=19|page=318|first=Kathleen|last=Schlesinger|author-link=Kathleen Schlesinger}} *[https://m.youtube.com/shorts/EFivEpH4ATo Sound sample] {{Flutes}} {{Azerbaijani musical instruments}} {{Iranian musical instruments}} {{Turkish musical instruments}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Ancient Egyptian musical instruments Category:Egyptian musical instruments Category:Arabic musical instruments Category:Armenian musical instruments Category:Turkish musical instruments Category:Kurdish musical instruments Category:Tajik musical instruments Category:End-blown flutes Category:Persian musical instruments Category:Middle Eastern music Category:Albanian musical instruments Category:Romanian musical instruments Category:Azerbaijani musical instruments Category:Israeli musical instruments Category:Sufi music Category:Jewish music Category:Iranian inventions Category:Bamboo flutes Category:Yemeni musical instruments