Description:
The Anatolian saz is a long necked lute and a member of the chordophone
family. Historically it may have likely originated from a lute called
the kopuz. Throughout history the name kopuz also applied to many
different lutes having leather bodies and long necks. The kopuz was
revered by warriors who would take the instrument into battle, they
believed it bestowed mystical and protective powers. The name "saz" is
an ancient Persian name for the word "musical instrument", the word saz
is also used interchangeably as a generic word for musical instruments.
Rather then particular or specific meaning of the word. The saz is
classified as a long-necked lute in Turkey it is used to play Maqamlar
or Maqamlat being (Turkish Classical Music) to regional folk songs and
bardic stories. The saz is found through out Turkey, Kurdistan,
Armenia, Azerbaijan and in the Azeri province of North-Western Iran. It
is also played in Greece and in Bosnia Herzegovina.The Saz Family: In Turkey there are several types of saz, the smallest being the Üçtelli saz. and it only has three single strings. The It is the smallest member of the saz family, and is comparable to the "Greek Baglama". In the cities and townships the cura and baglama saz are widely used, some ensembles even have a large "bass" saz called diven or mayden saz. For the saz there is no standardized system of sizes, yet different instruments makers often employ their own conventions. As you see in the tuning chart provided many different alternate tunings are used. For the baglama saz the most common tunings used are DAD, AGD, EAD respectively.
| Size Of | Type Of |
Name Of | Tunings |
| Smallest | Üçtelli |
C-G-D |
|
| Medium | Cura |
||
| |
|||
| Standard | Bağlama |
Abdal düzeni | A-A-G |
| Husseini düzeni | A-A-E |
||
| Cargah düzeni | A-B-C |
||
| Müstezat düzeni | A-D-F |
||
| Bağlama düzeni | A-G-D |
||
C-G-A |
|||
D-A-D |
|||
| Zurna düzeni | D-D-A |
||
D-G-C |
|||
| Misket düzeni | F#-D-A |
||
| Fa müstezat düzeni | F-D-A |
||
G-A-D |
|||
| Do müstezat düzeni | G-C-A |
||
E-D-A |
|||
| Longer Neck | Bağlama |
A-D-G |
|
| Diven or Meyden | |||
| Azeri Saz | D-G-C |
||
| Bosnian Saz | F-C-G |
Anatomy of the Turkish Saz: The
saz is made with a long neck often pine and the body or "Tekne" is
either carved (from single tree trunk of the correct and desired size)
as is with my cura saz. Bodies are constructed from staves and a frame. The frets are tied on
and are of nylon fishing wire or nylon wire of a thin gauge, this is so
the frets can be moved around desired scale for desired tuning and so
on. The strings are called "Telier", the bridge is called "Ait Estgik".