The Story of the Oriental Nay
Article by: Rizeq Nakhash
There are significant historical gaps, some spanning thousands of years, regarding the development and evolution of wind instruments since the discovery of what is believed to be the first documented wind instrument. This instrument was discovered during excavations in the Divje Babe cave in northern Slovenia, in the heart of Europe, and is estimated to be between 45,000 and 50,000 years old.
The first documented wind instruments in the middle east were in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, before around 6500 years.
The first documented to be believed the first wind instrument
The ancient Egyptians were the first to develop a complete tonal system for wind instruments. Contrary to the prevailing view that the ancient Egyptian flute was limited to the pentatonic scale, examples preserved in the Louvre, the British Museum, the Florence Museum, the Turin Museum, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, in addition to the double flute model, demonstrate that the ancient Egyptian flute introduced the full diatonic scale in addition to the pentatonic scale, at least a thousand years before Pythagoras's "discovery" of the diatonic scale, which was later adopted and remains in use today. Based on the fact that the ancient Egyptian flute was made in varying lengths, it can be asserted that it also introduced the chromatic scale to the world
Double flute. Ancient Egypt, around 14th BC
A tremendous revolution of Nay occurred later beginning from the 10th century BC, following the development of the Arabic/Persian/Turkish musical modes for the Eastern Nay. This revolution began after the Nay moved away from urban centers following the decline of ancient civilizations in the East and migrated to the mountain passes and valleys, where it remained for thousands of years as a simple wind instrument accompanying shepherds. Later, it tentatively and gradually entered Sufi music during its emergence in the 10th century.
Based on the chronology of music development of that era, it is strengthening the claim that the Nay, in its current form, came after the Arabic maqam (musical mode), not the other way around.
Early musical scales lacked quarter tones. This was evident in ancient Egyptian music, as well as in the development of the diatonic/heptatonic scale in Mesopotamia, which developed around the same time as the ancient Egyptian scales (between 1800 and 1400 BCE), as clearly demonstrated in the famous Ugaritic manuscript from Ras Shamra, Syria.
The quarter tone was first documented during the Abbasid Golden Age in the first half of the 9th century CE. Evidence of this lies in the transition from al-Kindi's twelve-note scale in the mid-9th century CE (al-Kindi being considered the first to document the ancient Arabic musical scale, which adopted the tonal intervals previously established by Pythagoras) to the middle note "Zalzal" (named after Mansur Zalzal). This note caused a musical upheaval in the Arabic scale, later leading to the development of the Arabic maqams as we know them today.
From "The Great Book of Music" by Al-Farabi
The middle notes of the oud were an accompaniment to the middle notes of the Persian oud, a significant addition that came from Persian music to Arabic melody, which until then had relied on the basic diatonic scale. These notes were developed and proposed primarily for the oud, and later for accompanying string instruments, as Al-Farabi details in his Great Book of Music. They were then adopted for the surnay, but not for the nay.
A thorough examination of that period reveals the oud's strong presence, while the nay's presence was very limited, leading to the conclusion that the oud preceded the nay in developing the Arabic musical mode. Al-Farabi elaborated on the oud and accompanying string instruments in terms of pitch and range, but he only briefly touched upon the nay, suggesting that the nay was not yet ready to accompany the oud in terms of pitch or range.
It is worth noting the significant historical gap in musical documentation concerning the development of the flute in this particular historical period. This juncture can be initially defined by the flute's prominent presence in Sufi music, especially during the era of Jalal al-Din Rumi.
An imagined medieval nay maker. From a documentary short film by Rizeq Nakhash
The Nay was not documented in Sufi gatherings when it first emerged in the 8th century CE, except for some simple oral accounts. The gradual introduction of the Nay into Sufi Mevlevi music began with the rise of the Mevlevi movement in the 13th century, eventually becoming the instrument adopted to accompany this genre.
Because Sufism was largely confined to urban centers, the ney did not receive the same level of notation and detailed documentation as other stringed instruments, most notably the oud.
It is generally believed that significant historical, geographical, and cultural factors paved the way for the modern Nay as early as the 10th century CE. During this period, Arabic musical modes (maqams) matured in Baghdad (and later in Andalusia) at the hands of renowned musicians, most of whom came from Persia (and later from Central Asia and Turkey). It was during this time that the "Wousta Zalzal" mode was created, adding to the ancient Arabic musical scale and marking the beginning of the development of the Arabic maqam. Later, the oud's range was expanded with the addition of a fifth string. Similar to philosophy, mathematics, and medicine, musical dialogue was open at that time due to the vast reach of Islamic civilization, which encompassed diverse cultural worlds. Therefore, it is believed that the Arabs were exposed to wind instruments similar to those of neighboring civilizations, such as the bansuri in India.
These factors motivated Nay makers and players to expand its tonal range and enrich its melodies to accommodate newly established Arabic maqams (musical modes) and to keep pace with the string instruments that were flourishing in musical gatherings.
Based on the historical periods mentioned above, this development of the nay can be traced back to the beginning of the 10th century CE and up to the 17th century CE. This is the period during which the Nay began to accompany Mevlevi music, as well as string instruments in urban musical gatherings under the name "mazameer" (plural of "mizmar"). However, it is impossible to know precisely when the Nay reached the sonic range and tonal dimensions that have been documented since the 18th century. The reason for this is clear: from the beginning of the golden age of music in Islamic civilization in the 9th century CE, through Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273), whose name is strongly associated with the ney in Islamic musical tradition during the 13th century CE, musical heritage was transmitted orally rather than through musical notation. Therefore, there are no original musical manuscripts directly written by Rumi himself (or by other musicians of that period) that precisely define how his poetry was sung specifically with regard to the ney.
Top to bottom: Arabic, Turkish, and Persian Nays
The first documented example of the modern Nay with its nine nodes, soundbox, and tonal range was in Turkey, specifically in 1725, by the Turkish musician Osman Dede (1652-1729). Therefore, I am inclined to conclude that the modern ney originated in Turkey.
A parallel question arises regarding the evolution of the Nay's structural form: which came first during the transition from its ancient form to the modern model we have today: expanding the reed flute's range beyond two octaves into a third, or modifying the hole positions to produce different scales?
Here, I am inclined to conclude that the early structural experiments on the ney developed in parallel with both the range of sound and the tonal range. The first attempts to expand the sound range began by adding more constrictions to the old model and introducing the soundbox, until makers reached nine constrictions, the minimum required for a reed flute to produce its maximum sound range. Meanwhile, attempts to calculate tonal intervals began by determining the positions of the holes after adjusting the instrument's vertical notes.
This enormous time gap regarding the revolution that swept through the Eastern flute (from the 10th century CE until the first documentation of the modern Eastern flute in 1725) opens the door to imagination, but within the constraints of the historical process that accompanied the cultural, social, and religious context surrounding the flute during that period. Therefore, I am inclined to believe that flute makers of that era conducted in-depth studies of instruments that exceeded two octaves, such as the Indian bansuri, or at least experimented with such instruments. The attached video is a reflection of my imagination after an in-depth investigation I conducted into the roots of the undocumented time gap during which the revolution in the flute took place in its old form, up to the appearance of the first "modern" flute (from the tenth century to the seventeenth/eighteenth century AD), to reach us from Turkey after that to the capitals of the Levant and Egypt.
Osman Dede (1652-1729), Turkish musician and Nay developer
The history of the Nay in our era is presented with three musicians whose historical presence marked the final stage in the Nay's development, leading to the instrument as we know it today.
Osman Dede (1652-1729) / Turkey:
His name is synonymous with the modern Nay/Ney, following its remarkable (and silent) evolution within Mevlevi music.
He was a prominent music theorist and a pillar of classical Turkish music. He belonged to the Mevlevi Sufi order and was also a master Nay player.
He proposed a comprehensive notation system for music of his time, which helped preserve the musical heritage from that period onward. He also introduced several new maqams (musical modes) to Eastern music.
Nayeb Asadollah (1889-1932) / Iran:
He is considered the reviver of the Persian Nay/Ney since its powerful return to the Persian musical scene during the Qajar era.
Asadollah's most significant contribution was not only his introduction of the tinfoil technique, after the Persian ney had been played in the same manner as the Arabic and Turkish Neys (a result of Asadollah's influence by the Turkmen wind instrument gargy tuyduk, which employs this playing style), but also his development of this technique and the introduction of articulations that later became a distinctive feature of the Persian Ney's sonic identity.
His approach was later continued by the master musician Hassan Kasaei (1928-2012), until the modern Persian Ney acquired its well-known identity.
Mahmoud Effat (1935-1994) / Egypt:
His presence was associated with a group of players who revived the presence of the Nay instrument in the Arab East in the twentieth century, such as Sayed Salem and Hussein Fadel (Egypt), in addition to Abdel Salam Safar and Badr Al-Din Halabiya (Syria), and Khader Elias Shamoun (Iraq), but the greatest credit for reviving the contemporary nay instrument in the era of the Arab musical “Renaissance” went to master Mahmoud Effat, through his studies that elevated the instrument academically and musically.
Mahmoud Effat (1935-1994), Egyptian Nay player