What is a Dutar?
Part 2: The Language of Music
Print this Page- By Dave Fossum
- Country: Turkmenistan
- Dates of Service: 2004-2006
- Related Publication: Video: The Language of Music
The dutar is made of three solid pieces of wood. This part is traditionally mulberry, although this dutar is made by a craftsman I met in Asgabat, and it's not, it's a different kind of wood, and I don't know how it translates into English. This is, I believe, walnut [1]. It's a very thin piece of wood, and it's where the tone comes from. It vibrates through this thin piece of wood and gives it a distinct sound. The grain of the wood has this beautiful feel to it as you swipe your hand across it, and you get this percussive sound. This part is made of peach or plum. I'm not sure; I think it's the same word in Turkmen [2]. And then there are metal frets here and two strings. One movable bridge here—just a little piece of wood. That's the dutar. It's a very simple instrument; it looks quite rudimentary, but the music that comes out of it, in my experience, is some of the most complex music I've encountered, believe it or not.
(Music played by David Fossum and teacher Annamuhammet Muğallym)
The first time I saw a dutar, I think I had a very arrogant attitude toward it. I thought, "This instrument only has two strings? How great can this music be? You can't even play a chord!" But when I began to learn to play it, I was really humbled. I think my western musical training taught me to value harmony first and foremost—that's the number of notes you play at the same time and how they are arranged. And from that standpoint, Turkmen music is really simple. But here I was confronted with unfamiliar odd meters that jazz musicians or classical composers might experiment with, but which Central Asians use instinctively and naturally. The melodies were complex and logically developed, and highly ornamented in a way that made a lot of western melodies seem plain by comparison. Turkmen composers of the past took short, simple melodic motifs and dressed them up, and then ran them through a cycle of variations that led to a soaring climax. And there is something about the sound of just the two notes played together, perfectly in tune. It still makes my hair stand up to listen to it.
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1 Dave later corrected himself to say that this was
mulberry as well.
2 Dave revised this statement to say that they are
different words. That part of the dutar is made of erik,
or peach/plum, wood.