The ney (End-Blowing Flute)

* First Video:




* Second Video: Persian Ney




* Third Video: Avi Adir - Live Concert




* Forth Video:




* Sixth Video: Omar Faruk Tekbilek teaches about the Ney and Zurna$





"The ney" is an "end-blown flute that" figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found in the excavations at Ur. This indicates that the ney has been played continuously for 4,500–5,000 years, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use. It is a forerunner of the modern flute.

According to wikipedia, the ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. Ney is a Middle Persian word meaning reed. Modern neys may be made of metal or plastic tubing instead. The pitch of the ney varies depending on the region and the finger arrangement. A highly skilled ney player 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 technical passages in other maqamat.

In Romanian, the word nai is also applied to a curved Pan flute.

The typical Persian ney is held with two hands and has 6 holes, one of which is on the back. The Arab and Turkish ney may have 7 holes.

Each hole has a range of a semitone, although microtones (and broader pitch inflections) are achieved via partial hole-covering, changes of embouchure, or positioning of the instrument. Microtonal inflection is very common and crucial to various traditions of taqsim.

Neys are constructed in various keys. In the Arab system, there are 7 common ranges: the longest and lowest-pitched is the Rast which is roughly equivalent to C in the Western equal temperament system, followed by the Dukah in D, the Busalik in E, the Jaharka in F, the Nawa in G, the Hussayni in A, and the Ajam in B (or Bb). Advanced players will typically own a set of several ney 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.

In the Arab world the ney is traditionally used in pastoral areas, showing a preference for smaller neys with higher pitches. In general, lowered pitched instruments are used in scholastic and religious environment. Though in the Sufi tradition lower registers are studied and played.

The Turks use even longer neys reflecting a preference for graver sounds, an imprint of the Sufi setting in which the ney was studied.