All About Ogur Sazi

Kopuz, whose history is dating back 6000 BC, was thought as a sacred instrument by societies it belongs. It was not only a musical instrumant but also used for the treatment of diseases. Kopuz was not only a name given to a single instrument, but also it was used for all instruments to define in the past like using bağlama/ saz as a word to define all instruments today. There were many different types of kopuz in history. These instruments are named by the number of strings that they have. Kopuz’s advancement as a musical instrument which was used widely in Central Asia and Anatolia, has not stopped for ages. Kopuzs’ string and fret numbers increased during the transition from nomadic to settled life. The development of music influenced the development of instruments.

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Ogur Sazi

Erkan Ogur is one of the musicians who was also inspired by the development of the music. He designed and derived six-stringed kopuz, Ogur Sazi, insipred by three stringed kopuz which is also known as three stringed cura in Teke peninsula, lute that was played in Baroque, early Renaissance and Renaissance period, and classical guitar.

Critical factors that play an important role in the design of the Ogur Sazi, six-stringed kopuz, are timbre features, playing styles and fret systems of three stringed cura and kopuz, keyboard structure of lute, arpeggio technique and tuning systems of classical guitar. The most important differences between regular kopuzs and Ogur Sazi are thickness of keyboard because of number of strings, string calibration, timbre feature on account of playing technique. In addition to these both harmony and melody can be played at the same time in Ogur Sazi like in classical guitar.

Ogur Sazi was designed by Erkan Oğur in 1992 and produced by luthier Kemal Eroğlu. The body size of the instrument, whose all structural features and frets are the same as kopuz, varies according to the desired chord. Its keyboard is thick enough for 6 wires to pass. Keyboard is normally made of hornbeam wood however Ebony wood is sometimes placed in front of the keyboard. Ogur Sazi has 25 screens. The wires can be all nylon or metal. Additionally, the bottom 3 can be nylon and top 3 wires can be in metal. Ogur Sazi is played with the arpeggio technique without plectrum. Erkan Oğur has also made 9 single row and 12 double row strings. Due to the high number of strings, it has a rich timbre. It is possible to arpeggio the chords up to six sounds in blocks.

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Chords generally occur in vertical position. The second wire from the bottom is accepted as the decision sound in the “Natural Minor” tuning. However, with different chord combinations, the decision sound can also be transferred to the desired wire. Unlike kopuz, it is played with 4 fingers instead of 3 fingers. It has not been an experimental instrument but has been used by various artists both in album recordings, film and series music, international media organs, and concerts. There are various music instrument shop where one can find traditional turkish music instruments.

All Ogur Sazi at our music instrument shop are hand made products of excellent craftsmen with affordable prices. If you are looking to buy a convenient Ogur Sazi with a fair value please visit our music instrument shop in İstanbul or check our online catalogue.

For further information please see our Oguz Sazi Collection