The cümbüş ( /dʒuːmˈbʊʃ/ ; Turkish pronunciation: [dʒymˈbyʃ]) is a Turkish stringed instrument that was created in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş. It is similar to an oud and can be played in larger groups.

The cümbüş has a shape like an American banjo. It has a spun-aluminum resonator bowl and a skin soundboard. Although it was first designed like an oud, the instrument can be changed into other types by adding different necks and strings. The standard cümbüş does not have frets, but versions for guitar, mandolin, and ukulele have fretboards. The neck can be adjusted by turning a screw, which changes the angle of the neck to the strings. One model uses a wooden resonator bowl, which creates a softer and less tinny sound.

Origin of the maker and the name

The word "cümbüş" comes from the Turkish words for "revelry" or "fun," because the instrument was sold as a less expensive alternative to the classical oud. Unlike inventors who name their creations after themselves, Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş used his instrument's name as his last name. He was born Zeynel Abidin in Skopje, Macedonia, and later moved to Beyazit, Istanbul, Turkey. In Turkey, his name is often written as "Zeynel Abidin Bey," where "Bey" is a title of respect, like "mister." Early records of his name show it written as "Zeynelabidin," which was one name, not two. In 1934, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk required families to adopt surnames, Zeynel Abidin chose to use the name of his famous instrument.

Rising and falling with social tides

After the Turkish War of Independence, Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş wanted to create a new instrument that could represent the idea of peace. He changed his company’s focus from making weapons to producing musical instruments to support peace through music. During a meeting with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, he demonstrated one of his new inventions. This instrument was inexpensive, easy to carry, and hard to break. It could play both Eastern alaturka music and Western alafranga music with the use of removable necks. It was designed to be a modern instrument for a modern country.

The cümbüş was affordable, so many people who could not buy more expensive instruments purchased it. However, this limited the instrument’s acceptance by the general public, as it became associated with the poor and ethnic minorities in Turkey, such as Rûm, Armenians, Jews, Kurds, and Romani. These groups used the cümbüş to play traditional music or songs shared with ethnic Turks. Classical musicians of the time avoided it, considering it lower-class or ethnic. Over time, people began to see the instrument as different or not belonging to mainstream Turkish culture, and it was not widely accepted in society. By the 1960s, the cümbüş was no longer commonly used by these groups, except by Romani musicians who played it at weddings and celebrations because it could be heard clearly with other instruments.

Starting in the mid-1990s, the cümbüş was used again during Armenian and Jewish folk music revivals and in Kurdish and Romani folk music recordings. Later, modern Turkish-rock and techno musicians began using the instrument. Some used it to express ideas through their music, while others used it for humanistic or spiritual reasons.

Present-day

Cümbüş Music is a company that is still active in Istanbul and makes many traditional Turkish instruments. The instruments are made by hand in the family's workshop in Istanbul by three members of the Cümbüş family: Naci Abidin Cümbüş and his two sons, Fethi and Alizeynel. They make about 3,000 cümbüşes each year (as of 2002). They also make about 5,000 darbukas each year (Middle Eastern drums) and sell guitars. They send about half of the cümbüşes to the United States, France, and Greece.

Models

The Cümbüş Company in Istanbul, Turkey makes several different models. These include:

• Cümbüş: tuned like an oud, short neck, fretless, six courses of strings, 34 inches long overall
• Cümbüş Extra: similar to the standard cümbüş, but has a wooden resonator instead of a metal one
• Cümbüş Saz: tuned like the a bağlama, long neck, tie-on frets, three courses of strings, 40 inches long overall
• Cümbüş Cura: tuned like the bağlama, but higher pitched as a cura saz; three courses of strings, 29 inches long overall
• Cümbüş Tambur: tuned like the Turkish tambur, also spelled tanbur; very long neck, three courses of strings, 51 inches long overall
• Cümbüş Bowed-Tambur: tuned like a Yaylı tambur, played with a bow
• Cümbüş Guitar: fretted, tuned like a guitar, six strings, 34 inches long overall
• Cümbüş Banco: fretted, small, tuned like a mandolin, four courses of strings, 23 inches long overall
• Cümbüş Ukulele: fretted, small, tuned like a ukulele, four strings, 21 inches long overall

Tuning

The cümbüş has a specific tuning, but it can also be tuned in the same way as an oud.
• Cümbüş: AA2 BB2 EE3 AA3 DD4 GG4

Use in Western popular music

• David Lindley played the cümbüş with Ry Cooder in the soundtrack of the movie Paris, Texas.
• Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour played the cümbüş on his solo album On An Island on the track "Then I Close My Eyes." It can also be heard on the first song of the album, "Castellorizon." He used the instrument for the same parts during the later tour, which is shown on the DVDs Remember That Night and Live in Gdańsk. In 2024, he played the cümbüş on the track "Sings."
• Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo played the cümbüş on the album Shangri-La Dee Da on the track "Regeneration." It can be heard during the chorus.
• Smokey Hormel played the cümbüş on Tom Waits’ album Mule Variations.
• The Hollies’ song "Stop Stop Stop."
• Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Eenor played a special version of the tambur-cümbüş (called Jim Bush) for Les Claypool’s side project Colonel Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade on the song "Shattering Song" (Live Frogs Set 1) and on "The Buzzards of Green Hill" (Purple Onion).
• Lu Edmonds played the cümbüş during the 2012 North American Tour of PiL (Public Image Ltd.). He continued to play it with The Mekons as of 2018 and recorded it with Blabbermouth in 2019.

Turkish area musicians

• Gevende plays the cümbüş, performed by band member Okan Kaya
• Udi Mısırlı Ibrahim Efendi was a Jewish musician from the late/post-Ottoman period who played the oud and composed music
• Selahattin Pınar was an early 20th-century tanbur player
• Ercüment Batanay was a mid-20th-century yaylı tanbur player
• Bedih Yoluk and his son Naci Yoluk, known as "Kazancı," were 20th-century folk musicians from Urfa
• Cahit Berkay was part of the 1960s "Anatolian rock" movement and played in the folk-rock band Moğollar, known for using the bowed tanbur
• Yurdal Tokcan was a classically trained ud-ist
• Ara Dinkjian was an Armenian-American fusion musician
• Harun Tekin was a member of the Turkish rock band Mor ve Ötesi