Professor Feyzan Göher, a musicology lecturer, has collected around 200 musical instruments from approximately 30 countries over 22 years.
According to the professor at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University's Turkish Music State Conservatory, located in south-central Turkey, her enthusiasm for instruments started at a young age.
Instruments have always attracted her attention, Göher said, explaining that instruments are not just tools to make music but are also crucial in terms of the culture that they embody.
"Currently, I have instruments from almost everywhere, from Australia to Asia, from America to Africa. I usually prefer to buy the original instrument directly from the person who made it. However, there are some instruments that are not made today or that we can trace from mythology. In those cases, I request help from very talented luthiers (a craftsperson who builds and repairs instruments) to rebuild them," she said to an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent.
Göher thanked her father, Yücel Göher, who contributed to the collection with instruments he bought from different parts of the world.
In one instance, Göher traveled to the Nam region of Yakutia in northern Siberia, where a valuable kopuz master presides, to buy an iron kopuz.
Göher notes that she has purchased instruments in nearly 20 countries as she lists some of the pieces in her collection, explaining: "There are pipa, hulusi and various percussion instruments from China. There are sarangi, tabla, vina instruments from India. There are examples of the igil instrument, murinhur, iron kopuz from the Turkish world, and different types of mouth kopuz. There are kalimbas, marimbas, kora instruments from Africa. Again, there are percussive or vibrating instruments that we call self-sounding instruments, and there are many of them in the collection."
Göher also brings rare musical instruments to her classes to show her students, offering them an opportunity to learn more about the culture from which the instrument came.
To Göher, her collection is priceless. "It's something that takes so many years. It costs a lot and I have no support. Actually, I can say that it is a love of culture with music. It is possible to see both the musical characteristics and many features related to the culture from which the music originated, through an instrument. It is important in that culture. The values, mythological stories, handicrafts, wood, leather and metalworking dimensions come to life in instruments. In fact, I have associated life and the connotations attributed to these instruments many times and this made me very happy. Maybe this helps me not get tired a bit and keep going," she said.
Göher stated that her interest in ancient instruments grew while teaching ancient music history.
"We see that the harp family was very extensive in ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and Mesopotamia. Therefore, I thought it would be very nice to include those that contain mythological stories, such as the Apollo lyre made of tortoiseshell, in this collection. I have spoken to very talented luthier Feridun Obul Bey and he made a very nice Sumerian harp. I made drawings of the original Sumerian harp in the British Museum, or a Hittite sistrum instrument, the original of which is in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, and tried to remake them. Likewise, luthier Hüseyin Asker made a replica of an original Altay cam drum."
"There are around 200 instruments in the collection including, wind and string instruments. When I decide to part ways with them, I am considering donating them to a museum" she added.