The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (IV)

1 July 2022 – 2:18 pm Posted in Articles' List, Contemporary Music, General Information, Instrument & Playing, Iranian Classical Music

Researcher:
Mohammad Tarighat

Translator:
Fatemeh Alimohammadi

Daf Structure

The Structure of Daf in different cities of Iran has a great variety in terms of dimensions, components and even appearance; some of which are as follows:

– Square Daf, on which the skin was stretched either on one or both sides, with strings installed inside it and hazelnut-shaped bells were placed inside or outside the frame.

– Two-sided circular and two-sided square Daf on which the skin was stretched on both sides and the rings were installed inside or outside the frame.

– Octagonal Daf or “Dast koub” that had skin on one side and a number of bells inside the frame.

– Dodecagonal Daf on which the skin was stretched on one side and there were a few Malileh inside the frame and used a string to hold Daf while playing.

– Arabaneh, the use of this circular Daf is common in Yazd. Inside of this Daf, hazelnut-shaped bells were used instead of Malileh.

The structure and components of Dafs with natural skin in the Kurdistan region are:

1. Arch, frame, “Gharbali”;
2. Avazeh of Daf;
3. Thumb index;
4. Stud or tack;
5. Ring, chain, ” Malileh”,”Jalajal *”, “Khash khasheh or Rakht;
6. Hook;
7. Skin or leaf;
8. Leather or tarpaulin straps.

Dafs are evaluated for wood and skin (proper tanning, age-old, one-handed thickness, no white spots and color uniformity), distance of ring from skin, distance of ring from next ring, end cut of arch and connection to the skin, circular shape of the arch, Avazeh of Daf, the width of the arch, the correct cut of thumb index, the appropriate weight, and etc. Which ultimately leads to well-built and pleasant sound production.
Arch: In Kurdish, the arch of Daf is called “Chameh”, “Kama”, “Kamar” and “Kavaneh”. Behzad Naqib Sardasht wrote in his book named “Kurdish Music Organology “: Daf arch is made of walnut, plane tree, quince, and willow wood. The thickness of arch is about one to two centimeters, its width varies from five to ten centimeters and the diameter of Daf varies from 48 to 70 centimeters” (Naqib Sardasht, 2007: 295).

Arch is a wooden ring, made of grape wood and a Salicaceae such as: poplar, red willow, and etc. Diameter of arch can be between 50 and 60, its height is between five and six and a half, and a part that studs are on it should be between one and a half to two and two tenths of a centimeter (Mogharab Samadi, 2009: 77-78). In addition to the mentioned woods, Ali Asghar Nasrollahpour also mentions walnut, orange, and fig wood for the material of arch and he points out Daf circle diameter between 41 and 54 (Nasrollahpour, 2000: 73). Khaktinat also mentions wood of walnut trees, grape, ash** (Van, Benav, Benavch), quince, orange, and red willow (Khaktinat, 2005: 58).

Heidar Mohammadi – Daf maker – says: “The wooden body of the frame is made of wood of trees, such as: willow, in form of one layer; plane, grape, orange, and walnut in two layers and ash, maple, and berry in three layers; with a width between five to five and seven and in some cases up to seven centimeters and a length of two meters when it is circular, its diameter is about 53 to 57, which is common up to 60 cm; of course, usually for children and adolescents are made with smaller dimensions and less than 50 cm in diameter. The thickness of single-layer arch and bilayer varies between one and eight to two centimeters. The Avazeh of Daf also starts from the middle of the frame and gradually decreases to a thickness of two and a half to three millimeters” (Mohammadi, 1399).

______

* chime

** Fraxinus excelsior

This entry was written by HarmonyTalk
Tagged: .

Ahmad Pejman Passed Away!

Composer and music teacher Ahmad Pejman (1935–2025) passed away on August 29 in Los Angeles, USA, after several weeks of illness. His most recent symphonic work performed in Iran was Land of the Brave (“Sarzameen-e Delavaran”), which was staged in 2017 with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. According to the family’s decision, his body will be laid to rest in the United States.

Timeless or Timely: The Role of Historical Context in Defining Artistic Value

Imagine that, in the course of historical research, we discover a musical piece whose compositional techniques (including form, melody, texture, and orchestration) resemble those of a second-rate 19th-century composition. But further investigation reveals that this work predates that period by 200 years. Can we still deem it insignificant? Certainly not. Here, the first major role of historical judgment becomes evident.

Latest posts

From Past Days…

Musical Sense or Technique?

One of the most popular terms used by Iranian instrumentalists is the existence or a lack of musical “sense”. Both musicians and fans of music consider having “sense” while playing music as an important principle to the extent that they use it vis-a-vis having technique.

Principles of Violin Playing (II)

Since for playing violin, it’s necessary that the playerâ€™s palms and fingers be inclined toward the fingerboard, therefore, the player, while bringing up his hand, should turn it toward the fingerboard.

Ashoura Opera

Ashura Opera was composed by Behzad Abdi, the Iranian composer, in 2008 based on librettos compiled by Behrouz Gharib. The main source for the libretto is poems by Mohtasham Kashani, a sixteenth century Iranian poet.

Interview with Farhad Poupel (I)

Born in Isfahan, Iran, and based in the UK, Farhad Poupel’s music has been performed and will be performed in numerous prestigious concert halls and festivals throughout the world including Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan; La Roque-d’Anthéron Piano Festival, La Roque-d’Anthéron, France; Biarritz Festival, Biarritz, France; Stoller Hall, Manchester, UK; Janacek academy of music and performing art, Brno, Czech Republic; Karlskrona International Piano Festival, Karlskrona, Sweden; by distinguished artists such as Kotaro Fukuma, Peter Jablonski, Daniel Grimwood, Margaret Fingerhut, Catherine Carby, Kristýna Znamenáčková,Jeffrey Biegel, Jean-Francois Bouvery and orchestras such as Windsor Symphony Orchestra or broadcasted on the NPR Radio 4, Netherland. The following is an interview with him on the ocaasion of the premier of the Legend of Bijan and Manijeh.

“Pledge of Love”

The “Pledge of Love” is the first album in a series composed based on the tasnifs by the renowned Iranian tasnif-maker Mohammad Ali Amir Jahed and recorded by Sahba Kohan Ensemble with Ramin Bahiraie as signer.

New Technique for Playing Classical Guitar (II)

When the author was working on the piece “Playing Love” by Ennio Morricone (from the legend of 1900), he realized a failure of the Lip Technique. Needing to play a chord in the 14th position of the guitar and in order to complete the harmony, it is necessary to play a harmonic note on the 7th or 5th position; it was not possible to touch the string to play this harmonic note, because the Lip Technique is used for getting the notes and not to touch the string and producing harmonic notes. Naturally, the only possible way to touch the string was to use the nose at the required position and playing the note with the right hand, and this was the best option the author found to how to play such harmonic notes, and where the Nose Technique was generated.

Kayvan Mirhadi and O.R.P Qaurtet

Establishing O.R.P. Quartet is Kayvan Mirhadi’s latest activity as a guitarist, composer and conductor of Kamerata Orchestra. Besides working with this Quartet, Mirhadi is busy these days recording and mixing some of his own works as well as some pieces by 20th century composers. O.R.P Quartet performed a concert in Rasht, Gilan Province in late May 2016 and offered a master class.