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Ney
Wind instrument (type of flute) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The ney (Arabic: ناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually for 4,500–5,000 years in ancient Egypt,[1][2] making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use.[3]
![]() Persian ney with six holes (one on the back) | |
Ancient | |
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Classification | End-blown |
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The Arabic ney consists of a hollow cylinder with finger-holes. Sometimes a brass, horn, or plastic mouthpiece is placed at the top to protect the wood from damage, and to provide a sharper and more durable edge to blow at. The ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or giant reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. Modern neys may be made instead of metal or plastic tubing. The pitch of the ney varies depending on the region and the finger arrangement. A highly skilled ney player, called neyzen, can reach more than three octaves, though it is more common to have several "helper" neys to cover different pitch ranges or to facilitate playing technically difficult passages in other dastgahs or maqams..
In Romanian, this instrument is called "fluier", the word nai[4] is applied to a curved pan flute while an end-blown flute resembling the Persian ney is referred to as caval.[5]