DIRK CAMPBELL
Composer and ethnic instrument
specialist
Click on a picture below for instrumental performances and information. Each picture takes you through to a class of instrument which I have played in film, TV and album recordings and in concert, and you can listen to the sounds.
PERFORMANCE CREDITS:
FILMS INCLUDE
Aladdin
The Mummy
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
TV INCLUDES
The State
Indian Summers
The Virgin Queen
THEATRE INCLUDES
Hamlet (RSC)
Julius Caesar (RSC)
Morte d'Arthur (RSC)
Reeded pipes
There are two types of reed, single and double. The zurna or shawm class of instrument uses a double reed in a conical bore pipe, producing a loud, wild sound similar to the Scottish Highland pipes. The arghul class uses a single reed and produces a quieter, more mellow sound. Single reeded pipes are often played in unison pairs with parallel finger holes, for example the Egyptian mijwiz or zummara. The arghul is played in Egypt and the Levant, with either a short or long drone. The Turkish sipsi is a single reeded pipe played without a drone.
Technically the duduk is a reeded pipe, but because of its increasing popularity and profile it merits a page of its own on this site here.
Turkish zurna
Egyptian mijwiz
Turkish sipsi
Egyptian arghul
All performances and arrangements by Dirk Campbell
Iranian sorna
Indian shenai
mijwiz player
sipsi player
Bismillah Khan plays shenai
sorna player
The Turkish military band (Mehter) with its massed zurnas and drums, struck terror into the heart of Europe during the Ottoman Empire