Daf
A daf (Persian) is a large-sized frame drum used to accompany both popular and classical music in Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kuhistoni Badakhshon of Tajikistan and other regions of the Middle East, as well as among the Mappilla of south India. Some dafs are equipped with rings or small cymbals, making them a form of tambourine.Many have no bangles.
The defi (sometimes called daire in other areas) is a fairly large frame drum with metal bangles. It is similar to a tambourine in construction; however, the defi is made with a metal screw system so that the head can be tightened and tuned. It is popular in many forms all over Greece, especially in the mainland klarino music. The defi is particularly popular in the Epiros region of northwestern Greece, where they are still handmade today. They have a beautiful low tone, and the bangles are low pitched as well. A virtuoso defi player can decorate the rhythm of the songs in many exciting ways.
A daf is depicted on the reverse of the Azerbaijani 1 qəpik coin minted since 2006[1] and on the obverse of the Azerbaijani 1 manat banknote issued since 2006.
The earliest evidence of the daf dates back to Sassanid Iran. The Pahlavi (an ancient Iranic language) name of the daf is dap. The word daf is therefore the Arabicized form of the word dap. Some pictures of dap have been found in the paintings to be painted before the birth of Christ. The presence of Iranian dap in the reliefs of Behistun is enlightening and is hard proof that dafs existed long before the rise of Islam. Dafs were part of religious music in Iran much before Sufism. In fact, Iranian music has always been a spiritual tool. It shows that dafs played an important role in Mazdean Iran emerging as an important element during the Sassanian times during the Kâvusakân dynasty. The monuments of Behistun are situated 25 km (16 mi) from Kermanshah city. Also there is a kind of square frame drum in the stonecutting of Taq-e Bostan (another famous monument located 5 km (3 mi) northeast of Kermanshah city). These frame drums were played in the ancient Middle East (chiefly by women in Kurd societies), Greece, and Rome and reached medieval Europe through Islamic culture.
Norouz (the first day of the Iranic New Year and the national festival of the Iranic peoples) and other festive occasions have been accompanied by dap in Sassanid periods (224 A.D. - 651 A.D.). In this period the dap was played in order to accompany Iranian classical music. Undoubtedly daps were used in the court to be played in the modes and melodies of traditional music. This traditional or classical music was created by Barbod the Great and was named the khosravani after the King Khosrow (Chosroes). Recent research reveals that these modes were used in the recitation of Mazdean (Zoroastrian) prayers. The modes were passed down from master to student and are today known as the Radif and Dastgah system. Many of the melodies were lost, but most of those that remain date to the Sassanid period. Dafs can be played to produce highly complex and intense rhythms, causing one to go under a trance and reach an ecstatic and spiritually-high state. For this reason, they have always been connected with religion in Iran, again, much before Islam.
The Moors introduced the daf and other Middle Eastern musical instruments to Spain, and the Spanish adapted and promoted the daf and other musical instruments (such as the guitar) in medieval Europe. In the 15th century, the daf was only used in Sufi ceremonies; the Ottomans reintroduced it to Europe in the 17th century.
The art of daf playing in Iranian Kurdistan and other parts of Iran has reached us by the effort of Iranian Sufis; especially in the 20th century by the late Sayyed Baha-al-Din Shams Ghorayshi (1872–1947), Ostad Haj Khalifeh Karim Safvati (1919-…), Ostad Haj Khalifeh Mirza Agha Ghosi (1928-…), Mohi-al-Din Bolbolani (1929-…), Sayyed Mohammad Shams Ghorayshi (1930-…) and Masha-Allah Bakhtiyari (1940-…).
The daf still functions as an important part of Kurdish and Persian art music (traditional or classical music) as it did in ancient times. It successfully encourages many young Iranians to take up learning this ancient instrument.
A thin band made of hardwood, covered with goatskin on one side. It can also have rings or small cymbals along the rim. In these regions, the daff is held with both hands at shoulder height. Tones of various depth and colours are played by hitting different spots on the skin with the fingers. There is also an Oriental technique of leaning the daff against the knees. The daff is a percussion instrument with a soft, deep tone. It is suitable for playing indoors and to accompany singers and players on the tambura, violin, oud, saz and other Oriental instruments.
Setar
The ancestry of the setar can be traced to the ancient tanbour of pre-Islamic Persia. It is made of thin mulberry wood and its fingerboard has twenty-five or twenty-six adjustable gut frets. Setar, in Persian, means "three strings", but a fourth one was added by Moshtaq Ali Shah, a famous Setar player of the 18th century. This "sympathetic" string is flot played but its echo highlights the predominant note of the avâz (a derived part of the modal system of the Persian traditional music) or the Dastgah. Setar is a very "intimate" instrument, its confidential sound being the consequence of the years that it had to be played in secret, when musicians were persecuted. Moshtaq Ali Shah used to play at private musical evenings in restricted, often Sufi gatherings. This great mystic called his instrument "tchoub-e-sagzani" - a stick to beat dogs - as a reaction against the then puritans who wanted to ban music. Mirza Abdollah, the father of the modern Iranian classical music, was also renown for being a magnificent Setar master. Because of its delicacy, Setar is the preferred instrument of Sufi mystics.
