(with an A
). The warm, full tone
of the bālābān is often used with the choghur
(lute) and qāvāl (frame drum) to accompany the singing of an ‘āshiq
(poet-singer); it is also played solo, and in pairs with one instrument
providing a drone.(1)
Cylindrical oboe of the Caucasus (particularly Azerbaijan), northern Iran and
north-east Iraq. In northern Iran the bālābān is also
known by its older Turkish name nerme ney or mey. It has a
cylindrical wooden pipe, a broad reed and eight finger-holes, giving the scale
E (with an A). The warm, full tone
of the bālābān is often used with the choghur
(lute) and qāvāl (frame drum) to accompany the singing of an ‘āshiq
(poet-singer); it is also played solo, and in pairs with one instrument
providing a drone.
The Azerbaijani balaban is 28 to 31 cm long and made of mulberry or apricot wood. The reed is 9 to 11 cm long and is inserted into the globular head. The older balaban had five to seven finger-holes, while contemporary instruments have eight finger-holes and one thumb-hole. Sometimes an additional hole is made in the lower end of the tube at the back.
The balaban produces a diatonic scale with a range of a 9th or 11th. Chromatic notes are produced by partly covering the finger-holes. The balaban has a soft, velvety sound rich in dynamic nuances. Primarily an ensemble instrument, it is often played in duet (see Iran, §II, 3); such instruments as the nagara (drum) or daf (frame drum) are played with the balaban duet for songs, dances and purely instrumental pieces. A balaban player also accompanies an ashug (poet-singer). The balaban is used in folk orchestras and played in larger professional or amateur ensembles belonging to urban and rural clubs.
The bālābān or qarnāta of the Turkmen and Kurds of north-east Iraq is made from a straight tube about 30 cm long, with seven finger-holes and one thumb-hole. The broad rectangular double reed (pīk, qamīsh) is 10 cm long and fitted with ring-shaped regulators. The instrument sometimes replaces the zurna at festivals, accompanied by a tabl (double-headed cylindrical drum). It accompanies the songs of the Turkmen and Kurds in the towns of Arbīl, Sulaymānīyah, Kirkīk and Tuz Khurmātū, either alone or with a single-headed drum. It is similar to the duduk of Armenia and Georgia.
(2) The balaban of the Uzbek and Tajik peoples of Central Asia is a clarinet. The instrument is called balaman by the neighbouring Qārāqalpaks and consists of a narrow cylindrical wooden bore, about 30 cm long, with a single reed inserted into the head. It has seven finger-holes and one thumb-hole.
GroveI (‘Duduk’, (i); R. At‘ayan)
C. Farr: The Music of Professional Musicians of Northern Iran (Azerbaijan) (diss., U. of Washington, 1976)
J. Jenkins and P.R. Olsen: Music and Musical Instruments in the World of Islam (London, 1976)
S. Qassim Hassan: Les instruments de musique en Irak et leur rôle dans la société traditionelle (Paris, 1980)
JEAN DURING, JOHANNA SPECTOR, SCHEHERAZADE QASSIM HASSAN, MARK SLOBIN