Any neyzen (ney players) in the UK or Europe out there?
Regards,
Harry.
I’ve been accused of being a “nay-sayer.” Does that count? 
djm
No, but what the hell.
Made me look. 
H.
Hi there Harry..
I’m Jon, have played the ney for nearly 23 years now. I used to play mostly concert flute and whistle, learnt keyboards then guitar then moved on to wind instruments as the guitarist in a local band suggested i give it a try.
Began with mostly trad Irish stuff on whistle and silver flute but soon dabbled with many ‘world-winds’ including Bulgarian kavals after a friend gave me a ney to try,and after three weeks of blowing myself blue in the face eventually got the hang of it !! Ney is probably one of the oldest flutes in the world, although records now show the earliest flutes may have been made from the beaks of a bird called a Crane, dating to some 7000BC in China.
The ney is nevertheless a wonderful instrument that one can even wrestle a major-scale Irish tune from with a bit of practice. I used an A-ney called Mansur on one of my latest recordings with a band called Dream Machine on a track called Vanishing Point on our ‘Castle..’ album, deliberately avoiding the Arabic scales for most of the tune: most listeners would suspect it was a low-D whistle being used.
Obtaining a good ney is not a simple matter, I get my Turkish ones from a neyzen in Istanbul called Ferit Yavuz. His website is www.neyustasi.com i think. You’ll need to get someone to translate in Turkish for you as he does not have English, but he has sent me some superb instruments. When on tour with Ozric Tentacles, a space-rock band, I found some of his neys for sale in the Lark In The Morning shop in San Francisco, and duly purchased one there. When buying a Turkish ney, especially the larger ones, you must be careful to find one that corresponds to your personal fingering pattern, as the hole at the back is usually cut slightly left or right of centre depending which hand you have on top.. I use my left hand on top though most neys have the thumbhole cut slightly to the right at the back as most Turkish players use their right hand to play the holes nearest ones face. When Ferit made a Sah ney for me he specifically asked my Turkisk translator which fingering i used. Attention to detail like that saves a little more stretching later !!
Good Egyptian neys are harder to find, but if you can find a set by Adel Fouad you won’t be disappointed: they are reputably the best. I was lucky enough that an amazing Egyptian percussionist called Hossam Ramzy got me some whilst on a visit to Cairo.. he knew exactly where to go to find them, as they are good neys.
Hope that has been of interest to you Harry, and anyone else out there on this forum who may be looking to one day to aspire to the title Neyzen!
Hiya Harry, I’ve not any help to offer, but here’s an oddity that I picked up recently I though you (and anyone else) might find interesting - it’s quena by Martin Niethammer (educci.de) that a Turkish lad named Neckyen Csikos converted to a modern sort of Ney, cutting off the notch and fitting a baspare instead - it’s got the thumbhole in the back, but is otherwise fingered just like a whistle, same scale and all - this one’s in G. I’ve had it just a few weeks and just finally have two octaves working, though not with much confidence it must be said. Nice sound though, when I can manage it.
I made something like that once. Tilting the head in the traditional manner to play a Ney is really hard on the neck. Once you get the lip pursing right, regular flute embouchure suddenly becomes ridiculously easy.
I don’t own a ney, but I loved hearing them in Iran. I do have a Daf, the ginormous frame drum with the jingles that tends to be played with them. I’d love a good Iranian ney, but who knows how you’d get one!
Jon, if you’ve toured with the Ozrics, there’s a fair chance you know one of two friends of mine who’ve been in the band, Graham May (was on bass for a while) or Stuart “Schoo” Fisher, who was on drums for some time, and was the drummer in my first band when I was 16 or 17 and he was 14…
Hiya Sam..
yep, two great musicians Greyum and Schoo .. Schoo is now drumming with.. CourtNEY Love in the U.S. !!
Think you may find a persian ney on ebay.com if you are lucky.. I got mine from a Teheranian shop on ebay.. it came in a nice case and is a wonderful instrument: the best was paying them in U.S. Dollars ! 
So you know 'em both! I was amused recently to see Schoo in the London free papers, pictured pushing Courtney around LA in a shopping trolley. I only see Schoo occasionally, but Greyum lives nearby.
I discovered the Ney on a road trip from UK to Nepal, fell in love with it in Iran, hence buying a daf, which I felt I had a better chance of playing well. Of course, the daf doesn’t like the UK climate much. It’d be interesting to hunt for a Persian ney, but I’m not sure I’d know how to spot a good one even if I could play it, never mind over the internet!
The Daf, which is Tof in Hebrew is one of the oldest of the drums.
That’s right, there are quite a few Assyrian and earlier (Accadian, for one) stone reliefs with amazingly detailed depictions.