ChanningPDX
Oud Maniac
Posts: 96
Registered: 10-15-2016
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Questions for lavta players
Hi all,
I know that more than a few of you out there play the lavta*, and I'd appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to share some of what you know, as
there doesn't seem to be that much information about it in English.**
(*Just to be clear, I am talking only about the microtonally-fretted, nylon-strung instrument commonly referred to as the Turkish lavta or Greek
politiko laouto, _not_ the steel-strung Greek laouto.)
(**At this point, I've searched just about every lavta-related thread on the forum going back to 2006 and searched high and low elsewhere on the
Internet as well.)
1.) What tuning(s) do you use? DAdg? DAda? CGda?
What are the relative advantages/disadvantages of the tuning that you chose?
2.) What repertoire do you play on it? I realize that the instrument was developed to play Turkish makamlar, but what do YOU play on it? And when
learning music from the page, what format do you use? Turkish music in Bolahenk notation? Arabic music in standard notation? Led Zeppelin covers?
Part of why I ask is because I was reading an old blog post by Eric Ederer about his early encounters with the lavta. While the DAdg tuning made a lot
of sense to someone used to an Arabic-tuned oud, for someone used to Turkish tuning wanting to play Turkish music, it apparently took some getting
used to. (Though if you listen to any of Eric's recordings playing the lavta, he certainly seems to have gotten the hang of it very quickly.) Here's a
link to the post in question:
[url=http://plumpasha.blogspot.com/2008/12/lavta-day.html]
3.) How did you learn? Obviously, if you live in Turkey or Greece, there seems to be no shortage of options for formal study, but what about people
who live elsewhere (particularly in North America)? Are there any tutor books for it in Greek or Turkish? I've yet to find anything.
From the perspective of someone who has never played the instrument, the lavta seems like it would be a convenient and highly versatile (not
to mention reasonably priced, relatively speaking) instrument for someone looking for an introduction to Turkish & Arabic microtonal music... But
if that were really the case, I imagine it would be at least a little more popular by now. Do you think it's one of those deceptive instruments that's
a little too good to be true, or is it just a well-kept secret that too few people know about?
4.) Who made your lavta and what strings do you use on it?
I know that many people rave about Dimitris Rapakousious's instruments. They certainly look and sound wonderful. The Turkish composer and tanbur
player Furkan Resuloğlu plays a 2,000 TL ($540-ish) Çankaya lavta and gets an incredible tone from it. (Interestingly, he strung his with four
single strings.) I'm also aware that a number of good Turkish oud makers also make lavtas, such as Ramazan Calay, Ali Nisadır, Bülent Eryalman,
etc.
Juuuust curious...
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elreyrico
Oud Junkie
Posts: 106
Registered: 5-1-2012
Member Is Offline
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1.) What tuning(s) do you use?
DAda is the classical lavta tuning, i would use this one
DAdg can be recomended if you have small fingers or already play oud and do not want to learn lavta fingerings
CGda is greek laouto tuning, allows playing laouto chords
2.) What repertoire do you play on it?
Any mediterranean modal music.
With DAda you can start playing :
-Rast based makams (rast, mahur, nikriz, hitzazkiar) from d open string
-Dugah based makams (ussak, huseyni, saba, hicaz) drom A open string or from d open string
Lavta is very good for learning turkish makam intonation, based on harmonics
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