Summer 2004 (12.2)
Page
13
Readers' Forum
Discovering
the Balaban
I'm
writing from the Netherlands. I play the Balaban. I love the
sound of this instrument which I find so dark, deep and melancholic.
It fits so well with the music I create. I wonder if you can
help me to find an address in Azerbaijan where they sell balaban
reeds (ghamish).
Actually, I discovered the balaban quite by chance in a flea
market in Germany. I was looking for an instrument that looks
similar to it - the duduk. But when I picked up this unknown
reed instrument and started to play, I discovered a beautiful
sad sound with even more warmth than the duduk. At that moment,
I lost all interest for the duduk even though I didn't even know
the name of the instument that I had bought. On the Internet
I searched for duduk with no luck. Then someone told me that
it was a balaban. That's when I found the Web site of Balaban
master Alikhan Samedov [sadsound.com] and you - AZER.com.
Tejo Bolten, Amsterdam
Editor's
Note: With
the help of Musicologist Majnun Karimov, who is famous for the
restoration
of medieval music instruments, we were able to track down a shop
where reeds and balabans are sold and pass the information to
Tejo. For anyone interested in hearing this "sad melancholic
music", sound samples of the Balaban performed by Alikhan
may be heard
at AZER.com, click MUSIC. Alikhan's CDs may
also be purchased there.
Back to Index AI 12.2 (Summer
2004)
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