Zurna

The zurna (Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian: surle/surla; Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian: зурла/сурла zurla/surla; Bulgarian: зурна/зурла; Serbian: зурла/zurla; Assyrian: ܙܘܪܢܐ/zurna; Tat: zurna; Turkish: zurna; Kurdish: zirne; Greek: ζουρνας; Azerbaijani: zurna) is a double reed wind instrument played in central Eurasia, West Asia and parts of North Africa. It is usually accompanied by a davul (bass drum) in Armenian, Anatolian and Assyrian folk music. The zurna, like the duduk and kaval, is a woodwind instrument used to play folk music. The zurna is made from the slow-growing and hardwood of fruit trees such as plum or apricot (Prunus armeniaca). There are several different types of zurnas. The most typical is the Armenian zurna. The longest (and lowest-pitched) is the kaba zurna, used in Bulgaria, the shortest (and highest-pitched), which can be made of bone, is the zurna played in Messolonghi and other villages of Aetolia-Acarnania region in Greece. The zurna, a relative of the oboe, is found almost everywhere where the common reed grows because it uses a short cylindrical reed that is tied to a conical brass tube on one end, flattened to a narrow slit on the other end as a source of the sound. It requires high pressure to give any tone at all and when it does, it is almost constantly loud, high pitched, sharp, and piercing. The need for high pressure makes it suitable for playing without stop using circular breathing. A small pacifier-style disk that the lips may lean on helps the lip muscles that hold the high-pressure air, rest, and recover during long non-stop playing sessions. The combination of constant volume and non-stop playing makes the zurna unsuitable for emphasis of the rhythm. It has therefore been played almost invariably along with big drums that both provide the rhythm and the lower frequencies that travel further away than the zurna's loud, high pitched sound. It has a cylindrical bore, and a bell opening out in a parabolic curve, thus adapted to reflect the sound straight ahead.