Cifte

Turkish Wind Instruments. Zurna, Cifte, Cigirtma, Kaval, Mey, Sipsi, Tulum (Gayda). Brief information on Turkish wind instrumets.

Cifte is a wind instrument used in traditional/local music. It is made by tying two reed pipes together, side by side. Two small reeds are added at the end of each of these two reeds. These two small reeds are placed in the mouth and blown at the same time.

There are two varieties of cifte; breathed and unbreathed. In the former, one of the reeds is unfretted, whereas the other reed has melodic frets, and it is this that produces the actual melody.

In some regions, the cifte is also known as the "argun", "argul", "kargin" and "zambir".