Sorna
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The sornā or sornāy ( fa, سُرنای، سُرنا, also ''surnā'', ''surnāy'' and also ''
Zurna The zurna (Armenian language, Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Classical Armenian, Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian language, Albanian: surle/surla; Persian language, Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian language, Macedonian: з ...
'') is an ancient Iranian woodwind instrument.


Etymology

The word ''sorna'' is a Pahlavi derivative of sūrnāy (literally "strong flute"), which is a compand of 'sūr-' (strong) and '-nāy' (flute).MacKenzie, D. N., ''A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary'', London (1971), p. 78 . Possibly it was called "strong flute" due to its double-reed-construction rather than usual '' nāy'', which was made of a single tube of cane. Also it is suggested that the first part of word of ''sorna'', is from ''sūr-'' again from Pahlavi and New-Persian, meaning the "banquet, meal and feast", thus the "banquet-flute". It is also suggested that "Sorna" is a cognate of "Horn", as "Sorna" simply means horn. This is a result of the
Centum-Satem isogloss Languages of the Indo-European family are classified as either centum languages or satem languages according to how the dorsal consonants (sounds of "K", "G" and "Y" type) of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) developed. An ...
, and later
Grimm's Law Grimm's law (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift) is a set of sound laws describing the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stop consonants as they developed in Proto-Germanic in the 1st millennium BC. First systematically put forward by Jacob Grim ...
. Even in Persian there is another wind instrument whose name appears to be a cognate of both "Sorna" and "Horn", called " Karnā" (); this may stem from a re-borrowing from another language. File:Surna, from Hamedan.jpg, Modern surna, from
Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...
File:Sorna2.jpg, Sorna, Ancient Persian/Iranian woodwind musical instrument.


History

The instrument's history dates back to the
Achaemenid Dynasty The Achaemenid dynasty ( Old Persian: ; Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was an ancient Persian royal dynasty that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, an Iranian empire that stretched from Egypt and Southeastern Europe in the west to the In ...
(550–330 BCE), and was used to play at the end of the day from the city gate or from the local administration building. This custom persisted in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
until the 19th century, the
town waits A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
playing
shawm The shawm () is a Bore_(wind_instruments)#Conical_bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after ...
s to mark the hours. The instrument was mainly played in outdoors in regional music of
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
in the festive ceremonies (the Persian poet Molana Rumi mentioned the sorna and dohol in his poems). The Achaemenid sorna was a large trumpet-like instrument, but in later dates was reduced in size, and became more like ( shrill oboe), or ''dozale'' (double oboe), which is characterized by a turned wood body of simple shape, with a heavily flared bell. The earlier was categorized as a
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
, but this was a mistaken idea based on the bell of the oboe and the freeblowing embouchure that often gives a superficial resemblance to a brass embouchure, particularly if the oboe is fitted as so many are with a lip ring. According to the
Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...
, it was King
Jamshid Jamshid () ( fa, جمشید, ''Jamshīd''; Middle- and New Persian: جم, ''Jam'') also known as ''Yima'' (Avestan: 𐬫𐬌𐬨𐬀 ''Yima''; Pashto/Dari: یما ''Yama'') is the fourth Shah of the mythological Pishdadian dynasty of Iran acco ...
who devised the Sornā. Except the literary evidences, there are also number of artefacts from
Sasanian dynasty The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sasa ...
(224–651 CE), depicting Sorna, such a silver dish, currently in
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
.Farmer, H. G., ''Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments'', 2nd ser., London (1926), pp. 69–86.


Function

A small amount of air is forced under pressure through a small metal tube called the staple which serves to hold the reed and match it to the bore. This requires the player to make sure, as in oboe playing, that one also empties the lungs of stale air when taking a new breath. Often sornas were played in pairs, with a melody and a drone player. This drone may move to different notes during a piece of music, changing at prescribed places in the composition. Several other names, such as ''dohol'', ''davul'', ''tavel'', and so on have been applied to the ''sorna''. Since
dohol A dohol( Persian:دهل) is a large cylindrical drum with two skinheads. It is generally struck on one side with a wooden stick bowed at the end, and with a large thin stick on the other side, though it is also played with the bare hands. It is t ...
is a double-faced drum sometimes it is called ''do-rūyeh'' in Persian language, in contrast to ''ghaval'' and ''daf'', which are ''yek-rūyeh'' (one-faced).


Popularity

The Sorna is mostly played in Loristan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari,
Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...
, Sistan and Baluchestan Province and
Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...
. In Loristan, Sorna is used as a main instrument during wedding ceremonies and also funeral ceremonies (which is called Chamaryounah). Sorna almost always is accompanied with
dohol A dohol( Persian:دهل) is a large cylindrical drum with two skinheads. It is generally struck on one side with a wooden stick bowed at the end, and with a large thin stick on the other side, though it is also played with the bare hands. It is t ...
in this region. In the region of Sistan and Baluchestan, sorna is mostly used in wedding ceremonies and other celebration. The instrument is always accompanied by dohol and sometimes may include traditional dance by forming a circle.


See also

* Shahmirza Moradi *
Suona ''Suona'' (IPA: /swoʊˈnɑː/, ), also called ''dida'' (from Cantonese / '' īdá'), ''laba'' or ''haidi'', is a traditional Chinese music instrument with double-reed horn. The suona's basic design originated in ancient Iran, then called "Sur ...
*
Zurna The zurna (Armenian language, Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Classical Armenian, Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian language, Albanian: surle/surla; Persian language, Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian language, Macedonian: з ...


References


{{Iranian musical instruments Iranian musical instruments Iranian inventions Oboes