Camel Bells

One of the most charming folk instruments is the six stringed baglama. In this recording you hear an old melody which captured the mood of the camel caravan. The six strings of the baglama are plucked to imitate the beautiful camel bells, double bells about eight inches long, worn by the camels and the player strikes the resonator with his finger to imitate the plodding camels of the caravan. There are no sand dunes in Turkey, but in the ancient days of the Ottoman Empire, when camel caravans from all over the Near East came through Turkey, there were many caravan songs.