A 1919 Kaval. Bone ferrules decorated on the lathe with turned grooves and bird's eye decorations are applied with a preshaped cutting tool.

The kaval [kaˈval] is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Kosova / Albania (Kavall), northern Greece (Kavali or Dzhamara), southern Romania (Caval), Armenia (Blur) and Kurdish (Blul). The kaval is primarily associated with mountain shepherds throughout the Balkans and Anatolia and in the book "KAVAL: Traditional Folk Melodies for Balkan & Anatolian Folk Flute", author Pat MacSwyney suggests that the kaval was spread throughout these regions by Yoruk nomads who inhabited the Pindus, Shar, Pirin, Rhodope mountains of the southern European Balkan peninsula and the Taurus mountains of southern Turkey. Image File history File links Kaval. ... Image File history File links Kaval. ... The end-blown flute is a simple woodwind instrument where the player directs air against the end of a pipe or tube. ... Motto: (English: ) Anthem: (Transliteration: ) (English: ) Capital Skopje Largest city Skopje Official language(s) Macedonian, Albanian1 Government Parliamentary republic President Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski Vlado Bučkovski Independence Declared From Yugoslavia September 8, 1991 Area    - Total 25,333 km² (146th)   9,779 sq mi   - Water (%) 1. ... Kosovo (known in Albanian as Kosova, in Serbian as Косово и Метохија / Kosovo i Metohija, and in English simply as Kosovo) is a province in southern Serbia. ... Kurdish may refer to: The Kurdish people The Kurdish language This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Yörük are a Turkic-speaking people primarily inhabiting the mountains of the southeast European Balkan peninsula and Anatolia. ... Vihren from the south The Pirin Mountains (Bulgarian: Пирин) are a mountain range in southwest Bulgaria, with Vihren (2,914 m high) the highest peak, situated at , . The range extends about 40 km northwest-southeast, and about 25 km wide. ... In Greek mythology, Queen Rhodope of Thrace was the wife of Haemus. ...

Unlike the transverse flute, the kaval is fully open at both ends, and is played by blowing on the sharpened edge of one end. The kaval has 8 playing holes (7 in front and 1 in the back for thumb) and usually 4 "devil's holes" down near the bottom of the kaval. The devil's holes are supposed to improve tone and intonation. There is a Bulgarian folk tale in which the devil tries to out-play a shepherd in a musical dual. While the shepherd is sleeping, the devil drilled holes in the shepherds kaval but instead of ruining the kaval, this only served to enhance the shepherd's kaval playing thus thwarting the devil. While typically made of wood, kavals are also made from Arundo Donax (Persian Reed), metal and plastic.

See also

• Ney - a similar Turkish instrument

Woman playing the ney in a painting from the Hasht-Behesht Palace in Isfahan Iran, 1669 The ney (also nai, nye, nay) is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music--in some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. ...

External links

• Bob Snider's page on The Kaval