Kaval
Kaval is a Turkish folk instrument of the wind type. It is populary known as the instrument of the shephards. It is also called Guval and Kuval in different regions. The belief that the shepherd leads his sheep flock with his kaval is a wide spread belief among the people. The word kaval is probably a derivative from the word "kav" which means lollow on the inside.
Its sound range is about 2.5 - 3 octaves. It isa widely used instrument inthe folk music groups of today and can be used as asolo instrument within an ensemble. Kaval preserves its sound characterisitc when played together with other instruments.
As
kavals are not produced to any defined standards what can be said
about its dimensions has to be very general. Its lengty may vary
between 30 cm and 80 cm and its diameter is approximately 1.5
cm. It has 7 melody keys on the front and one underneath. Besides
these, there are also 4 other keys at the lower section of the
instrument called Žeytan Deliši and Hazreti Ali.
Kavals are divided into two main types as Dilli Kaval and Dilsiz Kaval and are generally made from the wood of the plum tree.
Kaval
/ mp3 (673 KB)
Kaval
/ rm (126 KB)
Top and middle pictures: Dilli Kaval
Bottom picture: Dilsiz Kaval
Folk Instruments
General Directorate of
Folk Culture Research and Development
