Embellishments on Tar - Middle string pair

Tar is a long-necked, waisted string instrument, important to music traditions across several countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Turkey and other areas near the Caucasus region. This recording features tar played by Turkish musician Emre Eryılmaz.

He shows a common embellishment played in tar. With each stroke he bends/unbends the string such that the two consecutive pitches are a semitone distant. The stroke and the bending/unbending occurs simultaneously hence the pitch changes gradually rather than discretely. In this recording, Emre plays the middle string pair.