So what is a cümbüs, anyway? On this page you'll find a description of the instrument, a little history,and some information on tuning and transposition issues regarding the cümbüs. On this page there are photographs of a variety of "cümbüsler" and here is a paper on the traditional ethnic associations with the instrument, which I delivered at The Society for Ethnomusicology annual conference in October of 2006 in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
If you'd like a PDF copy of my master's thesis, which greatly elaborates on the subject, please e-mail me!
(But first, a word on pronounciation: the "c" sounds like the "g" in gentle,
and the "s" at the end of cümbüs should have a little "cedille" under it,
making it a "sh" sound (as in English). The word sounds the way most native English speakers
would say "Jim Bish," as though to differentiate a guy from his brother Pete Bish. Also,
let "i"= undotted "i", sounding like uh, let c = "ch" as in chair, and let "g"
be silent, prolonging the previous vowel. A little hat over the letter a ("â") gets a "y" just before it,
so "cargâh" is pronounced "chargyah."
The word Roman is accented on the last syllable and
refers here to the folk our parents called "Gypsies." OK, here we go...)
Description and History
The cümbüs, in it's unqualified form, is a twelve-stringed, fretless, plucked, banjo-like music instrument invented and patented in Istanbul, Turkey in 1930 by a man named Zeynel Abidin, a former sword and arms maker originally from Skopje, Macedonia. Although in the early years there were a number of counterfeits and alternatives (notably the "ahenk," see photo above, and the "serâre" or "nesetkâr"), the official cümbüs is made only by the Cümbüs Music Company in Istanbul, now run by the inventor's great-grandchildren, brothers Fethi and Ali Cümbüs. One of its remarkable features is that the neck is easily removeable, and can be exchanged for a variety of other necks, both fretted and unfretted, to create several new types of instrument, bowed as well as plucked (see photos).
The name cümbüs is the Turkish version of the Persian word "jombesh," meaning movement, catalytic activity, or just plain fun. It was in this last sense that the instrument was named and the word was taken as the family's surname in 1934 when all Turkish citizens were required to take fixed, inheritable last names.
The history of what groups within Turkey have traditionally played it
(and what kind of music they have played on it) is better addressed in this
"paper," but suffice to say here that it's a bit of an outcast,
associated mainly with ethnic minority groups (Greek, Armenian, Sephardic Jewish, Roman) in cities, and with a regional folk music of four southeastern
provinces (Urfa, Diyarbekir, Gaziantep and Elazig) in the countryside.
Tuning and Transposition Issues
The question of how to tune the cümbüs using
the standard strings commercially available is important because the tuning shown
on the package (and on many vendors' websites) doesn't jibe with the tunings
those gauges of strings are actually made for *.
Because the cümbüs is modelled on the oud
(and most cümbüs players are also oudists), I'll use the oud
and makam/maqam theory as reference points. Further, as many players
are used to Western notation and Arab styles, these are figured in
as well.
First I should say that on both oud and cümbüs, tunings
are pretty variable, and many people call their own
"the standard." The only thing that really appears
standard is that the top four courses of strings are
tuned in perfect fourths from each other. I find that
Arab oud players tend to stay in one tuning (DGADGC, CFADGC and the high
FADGCF or GADGCF - all tunings on this page are given low-to-high - seem to be the most popular), while Turkish
players often change the lower two courses to fit the
makam they're in (though all fourths -- C#F#BEAD -- is
called "the standard," at least in conservatories and textbooks).
On Arab-level and Turkish-level tunings and transpositions
Two things to keep in mind: 1) Turks tune their ouds a whole step higher than Arabs, so:
Arab DGADGC in Turkish would be EABEAD
Arab CFADGC in Turkish would be DGBEAD
Arab GADGCF in Turkish would be ABEADG
And In Arab and Western notation: Do = middle C, sounding at middle C = Rast, but
in Turkish notation: Do = written middle C, sounding G below middle C = Cargâh,
and Sol = written G above middle C, sounding the D above middle C = Rast
...so in writing on the staff, Turkish music looks like
it's transposed up a perfect fifth from Arab music
(and all the key signatures, in makam or otherwise, reflect that difference, too),
but because Turkish ouds are tuned a whole step higher than Arab ones, the
makam/piece of music sounds a major second higher
than an Arab version of the same piece, and a perfect fourth lower than it
looks on the page:
A piece in Rast, played on an Arab oud and written in
Arab/Western notation is written on C and played on C
A piece in Rast played on a Turkish oud and written in
Turkish notation is written on G and sounds on the D
below (i.e., the D above middle C)
The standard Cümbüs string set says "Re Mi La Re Sol
Do" by which they mean, in absolute pitches, "ABEADG."
Since this is one whole step higher than "Arab level,"
we can say that it corresponds to GADGCF -- this is
the region I mostly play in here in the US (because I
play with other musicians who are used to the "Arab
level," no matter where the music is from), and the
strings feel fine at that tension. The difference from
the oud here is that the high string is no longer
Gerdaniye (Kirdan in Arabic, the note an octave higher
than Rast), so when playing (in makam) with other
musicians, your fingering will be shifted down a
fourth/one course of strings. You lose the nice bass
tones of an oud (Kaba/Qarar Rast up to Kaba Dik Hicaz/Qarar Tik Hijaz),
but gain an extra high string's worth
of notes (Tiz Cargâh/Mahuran and up).
Also that major second (or third, depending on your normal set-up)
is in a new place, which you have to adjust to.
2) Turkish notation is screwy--let's take a look at it
using makam note-names as a reference point (NB:
makam/maqam literally means "place," and since all the
makams are played in the same hand position whether by
Arab, Turk or whomever, I suspect it originally
referred to the literal place/hand position on the
neck of an oud **
; the only question is what notes are
actually sounded).
I know cümbüs players both here (playing Arab-level) and Turks who tune their instruments a fourth down to "oud level" -- actually this is pretty common in Turkey, especially since the recommended tuning (the ABEADG on the package) is pretty high-tension, even uncomfortably so -- and that's where I play it when in Turkey, but to my ears and fingers it just doesn't work at Arab-level (e.g., DGADGC) with standard cümbüs strings... it's too floppy to drive the banjo head and very squishy feeling in the pick-hand. Turkish oud tuning (e.g., EABEAD) is about as low-tension as you want to take these gauges of strings. The GADGCF, being a minor third higher than the strings' lowest tension area and a major second lower than their highest one, is a nice compromise for playing at the "Arab/Western level," and leaves plenty of room for lowering the bottom two courses to fit the makam you're in, and there's always the option of putting a capo "at the second fret" to bring it up to Turkish level if needed.
* Gauges of the standard cümbüs string set are approximately (low to high, in fractions of an inch): .32 .28 .20 .18 .10 .09
I haven't found any better strings than this set, though I've tried mandolin/mandola and all kinds of
guitar sets/singles, even nylon (which sound quite good on the a ** This is certainly the case with Persian dastgah
gaç cümbüsü). I recommend you try loop-end rather than ball-end
strings if you want to make up your own set... the lower ball-end strings (and most nylon, tie-on ones)
are too thick to fit in the bridge slots, in any case (though you can clip off the loop of an old set and tie the loose end
around the ball of a ball-end string, which looks odd but works well enough).
Cümbüs as index of "gypsiness" in Turkish cinema: above - a scene from "Bal Kizi"
(Honey Girl, 1974), below - a scene from "Iki Ruhlu Kadin" (Woman with Two Souls, 1971). (Thanks,
Francesco Martinelli!)
