The cura (pronounce Djura), as the turkish saz is a string instrument with frets with quarter tones. I played it a lot with Pecheurs de Perles, then took it with me in Macau on the show Zaia – Cirque du Soleil.
It’s a small instrument with 3 double metal strings, with a high pitch range. I installed a small microphone inside, and use it with electric guitar effects, which expands a lot the possibilities of the instrument.
I bought mine in Istanbul, with the kind help of Erkan Oğur, one of the masters of this instrument.
Here I play a melody with quarter tones :
Here I play it with a distortion effect :
