Instruments of Iran - Epic Talking 

NOTES AND CLARIFICATIONS: Some in the comments have attempted to claim that the word guitar is directly descended from the name of the Persian instrument "tār". Refutation of this myth on my part has resulted in some emotional and fiery responses, so let's set the record straight. The word guitar is not derived from the Persian word tār, but descended from the Greek "kithara," which was a type of lyre. The term "kithara" remained widely used in Europe throughout the Middle-Ages, taking different forms like gittern, guiterre, and finally, its early modern Spanish form "guitarra," which gives us "guitar." Whilst there's a possibility that "kithara" itself may have been derived from an Old Persian word containing the same "tar" root meaning a string, other etymological models exist, including "kithara" being derived from an Urartian term "kinnar." None have been proven conclusively so far. In any case, whilst many Iranians love to promulgate the myth that the word tar directly led to guitar, it's simply not the case. The observable etymological reality is that guitar descends from guitarra, itself descending from medieval names like gittern, guitterne, qitara, medieval names for a variety of instruments, all of those names derived from Ancient Greek "kithara." The origin of "kithara" itself is unkown. As far our current knowledge goes, the "tar" ending on guitar is a superficial coincidence, and constructing a connection out of this resemblance requires ignoring the previous stages of the word where it wasn't as similar. en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/guitar For further reading on the subject discussed in the video, I suggest Jean During's "Art of Persian Music." www.academia.edu/7229425/The_Art_of_Persian_music

At my school, we have a collection of instruments, collected in the 1950s. We have two tars. One is typical, while one was oddly-shaped, having a half-sphere body, and was described as having human baby skin streched over the body. The new ethnomusicology professor had an Iranian musician look at it, who determined it was actually just lamb skin. The instrument was placed into storage.

"Gimme the Lute Gimme the Lute" -Safavid Notorious B.I.G.

Damn as Azerbaijani myself I actually didn't realize how much we use accordion before and the Tar's position we play it in😂

Farya Jan You played the famous Mazandarani song " امشو هوا سرنا شوعه ته گره ته امشو برو "❤❤❤

Aw, no mention of the crazy difficult way they play the ney in Iranian music? Fine, I'll say it: They play it with/against their teeth, and it sounds awesome. I'm only just now learning it, and it's way harder than just playing with your lips.

The thumbnail is so good, makes me imagine an Iranian Shah contemplating his vast empire 😂🇮🇷🦁

The part about being Mazandarani really cracked me up 🤣 Turks in northern Turkey on the black sea coast are exactly the same,there's gotta be a correlation between humid forest ranges and being a little bit more ''simple and humble''.

Your channel is the most in-depth I have ever seen concerning Iranian music. At first I thought it was all the same, but your channel has opened me up to realizing that Iranian music is very much in a class of its own

Ive been chronologically studying the epic talking series as a way to further my musical knowledge and baffled at how much more historical knowledge and understanding your videos bring at least to me , Its as if the years ive just attended in Western Schools has taught little of any history in a way that was cohesive and actively used to understand cultures and not just the wars which Is still important, I appreciate the level of though you put into presenting even your songs with the nuance of your goals with creating the song's and historical backround! Look forward to more of this series!

Zournas, kanonaki, la(g)outo - it all seems and sounds so familiar to my Greek eyes and ears. The cultural space-time continuum is so impressive. [Also, I've never heard anyone play the violin like your late grandfather did - it sounds like a different instrument altogether. Beautiful!]

Long live Iran zartoshti❤I love u from Iran

I think my favorite instrument in this family is the Tar, specifically the one played in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Dagestan. It's got such a satisfying sound to it. The Uyghur version, the Kashgari Rubab, is also really cool. Also with the Azerbaijani Nationalist issue, one must remember Azerbaijan was at one point, Northwest Iranian speaking and languages such as Tat and Talysh are still spoken there. My 2nd favorite is the Sorna, I love anything with a double reed

LOL! Love those characters. You always nail them, man!

In Hungary our national instrument the tárogató comes from the sorna.

I'm Malaysian here. We have this wind pipe instrument name Serunai. Malays use it during martial art performance, shadow puppets, rituals and royal ceremony. We had it way before Islam came into Southeast Asia. I have the feeling that serunai would originated from Iran. The Malays traded with Iranians since Parthian era.

Man not only can I enjoy the sound of longed necked lutes, but I can now also know how exactly they work. Thank you Farya!

Bro speaks perfect English in persian accent😂 damn that's fire

Thanks for the historical lesson! I didn't know that Persia and Persians were just one ethnic group and not the ancient names of that land! Super interesting! 🤩 Also, we never studied history of music in school, and I am finding this all so fascinating. You're a true master on the subject! 🤩

And to say I've been binging your Iranian music lately. That's the perfect timing. Your 'basic' videos are much appreciated, especially by the noobs like me. But watch my French speaking ass confuse 'tamboor' for drum instead of remembering it means lute 😅

Another epic talking video!! Enjoyed it a lot! In Chinese culture we've got a version of the sorna called the suona (嗩吶), and when I saw that Iranian music also had one with a similar name my brain just exploded. We use it in Chinese opera, funerals, marriage processions, religious stuff, national songs, literally anything. Mazanderani and Chinese ppl both love our silly little trumpets 💯💯 I'm wondering about the origin of both of them too -- whether they both evolved separately from one old instrument or whether the sorna got passed to China and turned into the instrument it is today

Evliya Çelebinin Seyahatnamede müzik aletlerini anlattığı bölüm çok bilgilendirici olmuştu ,özellikle isimlerinin çoğunun farsçadan gelmesine şaşırmıştım. Şeştar gibi ,(basic farsi😅).bu arada sohbetin harika,Keep İlluminating 🙌

As Azerbaijani I would like to say that claiming that tar is pure Azerbaijani instrument thats is heresy. Yes we did some changes to constructuion of tar but its Irani originated music instrument .

فریا جون حرف نداری بخدا همه آهنگ های تاریخی مربوط به ایران رو دانلود کردم عشقی 💕💕

This channel is the only reason I have RU-vid 😂 and introducing instruments of Iran and other nations is a brilliant idea👌🔥🔥🔥

For a second, I thought you were holding a rifle in the thumbnail

26:43 Sorna or Karna, one of the ancient Persian musical instruments from the Achaemenid era around 6th century BC, pic is from the Persepolis Museum.

Sohrab Pournazeri's "The Lords of the Secrets" Album, as well as kayhan kalhor's kamancheh performances is what initially got me into Iranian music and why I started playing Tanboor. Although I can only play at a beginners level its an absolute blast to play around with, and thanks to your wonderful presentation I now know more about its history as well as the other wonderful instrument's of Iran. Also Your grandfather Is super talented, I can see that being absolutely cracked at music runs in the family. Great video as always, cant wait to see more of this series!

Dorud! Fun factoid: (I'm a baglama player) A few years ago a lot of Iranians showed up and in order to be nice and sociable I added some Iranian songs to my repertoire. That went OK for a while and I played a bunch of shows but then I started hearing that baglama is a muslim instrument and I should play a truly Iranian instrument, namely guitar. .... cue speechless jaw drop.

I realy liked the safavid music it reminded me of the music my parents would play for me as a kid (my father loved it to) واقعا دمت گرم

29:14 wow shade has been THROWN

Barbad is back to enlighten us about the wonders of Iranian music!

i wonder if the " Hackbrett " which is traditionally played in my region (Appenzell / Toggenburg) in Switzerland is historically related to the Santur. (I love this sound!) greetings from Switzerland and compliments for your videos ...

One of your best musicological discussions!

I love you and your work!!! greetings from Turkey

If you guys in Mazandarani love the sorna, look up the Italian piffero (soecifically: piffero delle quattro province, because it's kind of a catch all term for treble wind indtruments). Modern performers include Stefano Valla, Bani, Andrea Ferraresi, Fabio Paveto, Marco Domenichetti, Stefano Faravelli, Roberto Ferrari, Stefano Buscaglia, Danilo Carniglia, Gabriele Dametti and others. To hear a reconstruction of what the tradition may have sounded like until the 1920s, before the accordion replaced the treble contrapunctal bagpipe, see specifically the video "Il ritorno della Müsa" by Barabàn

Thank you for this informative talking session, Farya! I would like to clarify something as an azerbaijani(not a nationalist, god forbid). Come now, you won't surprise any azerbaijani by the tar's iranic origins. It's literally in the name. Simply, as you mentioned here as well, the tar around which the azerbaijani classical répertoire is formed is indeed of unique variation. I always believed it to belong to, what you would call a particular school or manufacture design from Iranian Azerbaijan or Karabakh region. It has a distinctive appearance and sound, also diversified by the characteristic local style of playing the instrument. So, yeah, it is a national instrument, in the sense that it plays a great part in our region's cultural heritage, regardless of origin. Same with armenians, I assume. And you're right to highlight how it is not as suited to be a singing accompany type-of instrument. It IS used in folk music performance art alongside vocals. However, due to how it sounds, the tar is indeed more of a solo melodic instrument. Unlike what is usually expected from a lute-guitar type of instrument, when it plays some cords to be a background for the actually singing. When in Azerbaijan a tarist plays alongside mugham vocal performer, unlike a guitar, it rather creates a second melody, that sets the atmosphere and the tone based on which Mugham or Dastgah is performed. Often times even a singer and a tarist would perform an almost similar melody, interchangeably. So tar in an azerbaijani mugham ensemble indeed feels more like "a second singer".

I've dabbled a lot in Chinese music and I recognize a few instruments here that are very similar. The sorna is similar to the suona 唢呐, which is a popular folk instrument that is used for a wide range of functions from celebrations to funerals. The suona entered China via the Tocharians and other ancient peoples of Central Asia. The chang is similar to the vertical konghou 豎箜篌 that made its way to China via the Sogdians, who in turn may have gotten it from India or Iran. It was very prevalent in Tang Dynasty music, but unfortunatly it fell out of use. I always love the epic talking series, keep up the great work!

Love your work, Farya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every day you upload is like Christmas day :) I wonder, since you’ve done an increasing number of Irish songs, have you ever looked into puirt-à-beul (sometimes called Gaelic mouth music)? You might find it to be an interesting tradition 😅

The costume and background are amazing.

You amazing musician ❤ ♥ ❤

I need my friend a song/symphony about Navas de Tolosa or Spanish Empire, i'm Spanish and love your music, thanks for your music.

The Sorna both in name and sound reminds me of the Chinese 唢呐 (suona). I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s derivative of the Iranian instrument, given that culture flowed as much as trade did along the Silk Road.

کلیپ های آقای فرجی بسیار ارزشمند هستند. موفق باشی برادر. امیدوارم ایرانی های بیشتری پیج شما را بشناسند. Farya jan your clips are so worthy, thank you bro. hope Iranian poeople know you and your contetnt more. 👌👌🌹🌹

Really interesting video! As an Indian, I can totally relate with the same name of instrument referring to very different instruments. We also have similar named instruments here like sitar, dotara, tambura/tanpura and santoor but they all look and sound very different from their Iranian counterparts

Great video! All the best from Romania!

Another great epic talk by Pahrbad or Barbad. I really enjoyed it and learned a few new things.

Thank you so much for this excellent summary, very helpful in suggesting further learning.

Hell yeah, a new epic talk! I'm really interested in learning to play the dotar and bağlama, but since I live in a very rural western area with practically no Iranian cultural influence (nor influence from neighbouring cultures) I've got no clue where to find them (other than the internet, but I'm not sure where to look on that). Hopefully someday I'll be able to find (and afford) them, they're very beautiful instruments.

Interesting comment on the guitar. I love flamenco guitar, and after some time following the roots of the music I found Iranian music, which I now love too About the Oud, do you know Hamid Khansari? He is trying to bring the Persian Oud on the scene. I totally get your point about it being associated with Arabic music, but it’s nice to hear Hamid playing his distinctly Persian Oud

Farya giving those demonstrations just makes me think he should, one day - when he isn't as busy as I'd imagine - just up the LARP to 11 and make a 30+ minute video of him just sitting there and playing music in the style of Shiren, Apadana's Shadow, Abenam etc.

FINALLY, I’ve been waiting for something like this

I love the Kamanche's breathy and nasal sounding qualities. When I discovered Kayhan Kalhor in the mid 2,000's I was lucky enough to win an auction on eBay for one. It's made in the Azeri style (simple tailpiece, no fine tuners) and looks to have been made in the 1950's. I was able to remove the neck (the original skin is still in very good shape) and found ink markings on the inside of the bowl. I took as good of pictures as I could and tried many websites, RU-vid comments, emails etc to try and maybe decipher the marks in order to determine who made the instrument...all to no avail, I guess it will always remain a mystery. (I'm wondering why most of my original comment didn't post... is there a limit on the word/letter count in posts?)

Greetings to you from Tajikistan, Farya! I really liked your work. Listening to your music I am sincerely penetrated and inspired by all the feelings embedded in the lyrics. I wanted to ask you if it is possible to hear any music from you in the East Iranian/Tajik tradition in the future? It could be based on Bozor Sobir's poems, for example, "Az khuni Sievushchem" or "Zaboni Modari", the latter has a rendition by Ustad Saidkul Bilolov.

Another amazing epic talk by crazy bearded man. I loved the point about violin. Violin is an instrument that almost every culture has adopted as its own. Look at Irish music or Indian carnatic music. You cannot , if you didn't know, tell that it is the same instrument. Violins are so versatile truly.

Buddy, I love these break downs. Thank you.

Actually I wasn't going to watch the video, just turned it on to hear you talking ( 'cause I never did), but that was too interesting! ❤ Thanks, Farya!

I really love these 'Epic Talking' vids. Very educational.

I just bought a Tar and Setar from Iran. Please more videos about them

دمت گرم فریا جان بابت ویدئو 👑

Yessssss more Epic Talking!! I love your approach to ethnomusicology! And it makes my commute much more interesting. 😊

Thanks for sharing such great videos. As a fan and student of Persian classical music and the setar specifically, I love hearing from your perspectives and teaching.

I'm fascinated by your comments on the santour because in China the name for it is yangqin, which translates roughly to "foreign zither" (zither isn't quite right, a friend told me it's more like a class of instruments that's similar but includes the piano). So certainly in China they consider(ed) it to be from somewhere else. Many people claim the hammered dulcimer originated in Iran but the evidence seems murky, and some have even posited a European origin. I'm not sure what to think really, could you say more about the reasons for thinking it came to Iran from China? Thanks!

Looking forward to watching this!

Wow, what a wealth of knowledge, thanks for sharing it

HEY YOU DROPPED THIS 👉🏼 👑

Amazing i love the explanation videos. Thanks

درود بر شما ❤

awesome! definitly gonna save this video for tomorrow, I just recently bought a tanboor, and rekindled my interest in iranian music again, cant wait!

Thank you so much. I love it😊

Stop the duduk hate!

Wow the tar sounds fantastic

In Iraq we call the violin Kamanja

Nice, i hoped you would one day make something like this, looking forward to more of these epic talkings about instruments from different cultures. Also, from now on i will only call it the fucking duduk.

Wow what a treasure.

Can you make a video about turco-mongol steppen instruments it'll be really cool

J'ai re-consulté la vidéo, question de révision, et y'a un truc qui m'avait échappé la dernière fois. *Farya, 7 x 4, ça fait 28!!!!* St-Baptême-du-Yâble 😂

Another amazing video as always. I also find it funny how I could immediately tell where things would go when I heard the tone in which you first mentioned the duduk in this video. Unfortunately, the main reason I came to the comment section turns out to be a different video of yours. Namely, since I discovered your channel and started watching, and since your personal preference of having playlists go from most recent video to oldest video didn't match with my own personal preference in regards to playlists being the reverse, I started collecting your Epic Talking videos into an unlisted playlist for me and whomever I decide to share your content with. Have used it to re-watch your videos several times already in the about a year that I've watched your channel. However, after adding this video to that playlist yesternight and then checking the playlist today, I noticed something... one of the videos has now been set to private, and although I'm not 100% sure, I am pretty sure the video in question is Microtones: the Greek Art that Europe Left Behind or something along those lines. So I popped in, out of curiousity, to ask what happened?

Thanks for you man

Good job bro

...never before in my life have I had cause to realize how desperately I want to hear a song composed for harpsichord and banjo.

Man i love you, you are so cool

🇮🇷🇬🇷🇮🇷🇬🇷🇮🇷🇬🇷❤️

Thank you for sharing! Curious what is Loristan culture and music like? Also did Armenia use the duduk or was the zurna the most commonly used instrument?

❤❤پایبنده باد ایرانشهر

31:15 I laughed out loud at this part. Talk about diversity! Iran has it in spades.

Everyone loves the violin

Can you make Kafkasya Marşı? Im waiting for it 😍

Apparently the tambur, going as far back as is known, has always had a pear shaped an a round version, but they were probably more similar in size and stringing than they are today.

nice

Thanks for mentioning the Kurdish influence on the tembûr. I appreciate your work

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥❤️❤️❤️

Can you recommend me books about safavid history? Very interested in iranian history and culture.

These instruments are so cool! I'm pretty sure they're used in a specific country/region in western asia, though I can't put my name on it....

🔥🔥🔥

me yelling at my screen: 28 STRINGS TO TUNE! COME ON FARYA! xD

The Achaemenid of Farya Faraji has return

NEW EPIC TALKING YIPPEE

Oh Bradley.

No way! It's Pahlbod!