Portrait of a music group in the Naser al-Din Shah Qajar era, 188617th century fresco at Chehel Sotoun showing musicians at a 1658 entertainment, in which Shah Abbas II hosted Nadr Mohammed Khan.
Persian musical instruments or Iranian musical instruments can be broadly classified into three categories: classical, Western and folk. Most of Persian musical instruments spread in the former Persian Empires states all over the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia and through adaptation, relations, and trade, in Europe and far regions of Asia. In ancient era, the Silk road had an effective role in this distribution.
19th century C.E. Qajar Iran scene with women playing ney (flute), tar (lute) and dancing.
Percussion instruments
While Arabic and Persian are separate languages, to a great extent the cultures intermixed during and after the Arab conquest of Persia. Arabic became the lingua franca from the Middle East to the edge of China and into India, much as Latin was in Europe. As a result, the list below may contain Arab words that don't belong, but may also include words shared by both languages. An example is daf (دایره), for which the Arab word is also daf or duff (plural dofuf'). Similarly, conquests and cultural intermixing have made Turkish words available, such as kudum.
Persian woman playing the Daf, from a painting on the walls of Chehel-sotoon palace, Isfahan, 17th century
Persian miniature of Woman with frame drum in Qajar Iran, 19th century. Possibly a daf; the red and white circles are links of chain attached to the inner edge of the drum.
Woman playing Kastan (کاستانیـِت), or possibly ghashoghak or zills.
Woman with Zarb drum, Qajar Iran,19th century
Woman playing drums, Qajar Iran, 19th century
Woman playing Dayereh-zangi (دایرهزنگی) or tambourine, ca 1820
Membranophones
Name in English
Name in Persian or other names
Description
Picture
Arkal
A kind of drum, possibly of the frame type.
Arabaneh
A kind of frame drum, sometimes fitted with jingles. Possibly same as arbana, drum of Muslims in Kerala, India.[1]
Batare
A kind of frame drum, maybe the same as Daf. It should be mentioned that Bateri is the same as the English word Battery (sound of drum and also a kind of percussion instrument).
A large frame drum with thumb-hole on side. Today the Bendir is a typical frame drum. Similar instruments are common in the whole Near East from Morocco to Iraq and also in Northern Africa. A distinctive feature of this instrument is the set of snare strings fitted to the interior of the drum skin.
The daf is one of the most ancient frame drums in Asia and North Africa. As a Persian instrument, in the 20th century, it is considered as a Sufi instrument to be played in Khaghan-s for Zikr music but now this percussion instrument has recently become very popular and it has been integrated into Persian art music successfully.
Dap/Dup Some believe that Dap or Dup is a Hebraic word (Hebrew תוף tof), which means stroke or beat and Daf is Arabicized of Dap. In Uyghuristan (Xinjiang of China) there are two kinds of frame drums. One is Dap and other that is smaller is Kichik Dap (Kichik literally means small). In Malaysia, Dup is a double-headed drum and is cylindrical in shape. Dup is usually used in the Ghazal and 'Gambuh' performance. The drumhead is of goathide and it is beaten either with the hand or with cloth-padded drumsticks. The word "Dup" is an onomatopoeia.Dup - Malay community in Johor
Dofuf: Arabic pl. of Daf.
Dareh A kind of Persian frame drums same as Dayereh. It is played in folk music of Dezful city in Khuzestan province of Iran. There is a proverb that is: Dara seda nadara, which means Dareh, has not sound! Dara is a dialect of Dareh and Dareh in Dezful is called Dara. In Dezful Dar means coarse sieve.
Dayereh literally means circle. It is Persian frame drum, though Dayereh is an Arabic word. Some believe that Dayereh is the same as the Persian word Dareh.
Dizeh: In Bojnord city of Khorasan province of Iran, Dareh is called Dizeh.
Kafeh: A kind of Daf (frame drum) to be played by the palm of the hand. Kaffeh means circular thing.
Women playing dafs in Kurdistan.Iranian percussionist Majid Khalaj playing the dayerehEgyptian Riqq, also spelled riq, req.
Daf-e-chahar-gush
A kind of squared Daf. This percussion-skinned instrument is played in Egypt and Syria.
Dā'ira means round tambourine[4] (a reminder that older tambourines may have been square.
The modern dayera looks like a tambourine, without jingles. The dayereh-zangi has those jingles and is the same as the Tambourine. It's not absolute, but a difference between the daf and the dayereh-zangi can be the size; the daf is often larger, the dayereh smaller.
Woman playing dayereh-zangi or daf. The zangi refers to the metal disks embedded in the instrument's edge. See zang
A big cylindrical two-faced drum to be played by two special drumsticks. One is wooden thick stick that is bowed at the end and its name is Changal (or Kajaki). The other is thin wooden twig and its name is Deyrak. (In Hormozgan province of Iran, Dohol is played by two hands.) Dohol is the main accompaniment of Sorna (Persian Oboe, Turkish Zurna, Indian Shehnay and Chinese Suona).
Dabal, big drum. Dabalzan means Dabal player
Dobol: A dialect of Dohol in Shushtar city of Khuzestan province of Iran.
Dohol-e-baz: Small brazen Dohol to be played in the time of hunting in order to encourage the prey hawk (falcon) for hunting.
Gapdohol: A kind of Dohol to be played in Hormozgan province of Iran.
Jure: A kind of cylindrical drums same as Dohol to be used in folk music of Hormozgan province of Iran for accompanying Sorna (Persian Oboe, Turkish Zurna, Indian Shehnay and Chinese Suona) in wedding ceremonies or any other festive occasions.
Keser: A kind of Dohol to be played in Hormozgan province.
Tanbal: Tablak or Dohol.
Timbook: A kind of cylindrical drums same as Dohol.
Two dohol drums.Dohol دهل from Khorasan, played with curved drumstick. Called davul in Turkish.
Doholak
A Dohol from Baluchestan, played with both hands. Called Nal in Pakistan, Dholki in Mahashtra, India. The Dholak in India is a folk drum characterized by a cylindrical wooden shell covered with skin on both sides.
Nal. Another name for Doholak.
Dulab
Sarcastic or ironical name of drum.
Dulakvat
A kind of cylindrical drum, like the dohol, of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Kus-e-Ashkebus: Kus attributed to Ashkebus, famous commander of King Afrasiyab mentioned in masterpiece Shahnameh of the famous poet of Persia, Ferdosi.
Kus-e-dolat: Kettledrum to be played during the victories.
Kus-e-id: Kettledrum to be played during id (festival).
Nakers were made of wood, metal, or clay and were sometimes equipped with snares. They were almost always played in pairs and were struck with hard sticks. They were probably tuned to high and low notes of identifiable pitch.
Desarkutan A kind of drum to be played in Mazandaran province of Iran. See Naghghareh-ye-Shomal
Naghghareh-ye-Fars: A kind of Naghghareh to be played in Fars province of Iran.
Naghghareh-ye-Sanandaj: A kind of Naghghareh to be played in Sanandaj city of Kurdistan province of Iran.
Naghghareh-ye-Shomal: A kind of Naghghareh to be played in North of Iran. Its name in Mazandaran province of Iran is Desarkutan. Desarkutan is the combination of the words De, Sar and Kutan that they respectively mean two, head and to beat.
Naqqāra-khāna or naubat (band). Features large nagaras on camel, smaller nagaras on horse, nafir trumpet and sorna (or zurna).Iraqi naqqaratA pair of gosh naghara.
Samma
A frame drum used in Sufi (mystic) music of Sistan-Baluchestan and other parts of southern Iran .
shāhin (شاهین) is a fife. ṭabl (فایف) is a drum. The two were allowed to be played together (with reservations as an old/pre-Islamic combination).[6]
Shahin means royal falcon, but refers here to a wind instrument. Tabbal means drummer. Shahin-Tabbal is a person who plays Shahin by one hand and Tabl (drum) by the other one.
Tabare
Tabire
Tabire means drum. In Arabic it means Tabl. In French encyclopedia of Littreé it has been mentioned that the French word Tabur (small drum used in medieval times to accompany folk-dancing) comes from the Persian word Tabire.
Tabur An Eastern percussion instrument called Tambour there, which immigrated westward.
Taburak: A kind of frame drum. The word comes from Tabire, with a diminutive suffix "ak" and means small Tabire.
Small copper bowl drum covered with sheep or cow skin and beaten with a drumstick, or leather or rubber straps. The instrument may be related to the Indian Tasa or Tasha drums. Alternatively is copper bowls without skin, called Jal-Tarang in India. Tasht means tub or basin. Tashtgar means Tasht player. Russian Turkestan, circa 1869. Tas (left), qairaq or kairak right. In another photo from the series, the back of the tas shows it has no drumhide, but is sounded like a cymbal.
Tas from Kurdistan
Tempo
A goblet drum similar to Turkish-Arabic Dumbek or Darbuka.
Tonbak: Persian goblet drums. There are many names for this instrument. Some of them are: 1. Dombar 2. Dombarak 3. Tabang 4. Tabnak 5. Tobnak 6. Tobnok 7. Tobnog 8. Tonbik 9. Tonbook 10. Tontak 11. Khonbak 12. Khombak 13. Khommak 14. Damal 15. Dambal 16. Donbalak 17. Dombalak 18. Khoorazhak 19. Khomchak 20. Tonbak 21. Tombak 22. Donbak 23. Dombak 24. Zarb.
Dombak: agoblet drum Another name of Tonbak. It is derived from the Pahlavi (Persian ancient language) word, Dombalak.
Dombalak: Pahlavi name of Tonbak.
Dombalak-e-ayyubi: Dombalak attributed to Ayyub (a Middle Eastern rhythm played in belly dance).
Donbak: Another name of Tonbak.
Donbalak-e-Moghren: An ancient drum that was a pair of Tombaks.
Khombak: Another name for Tonbak. Khomak: Khom-e-ruyin. It literally means small barrel. There is a kind of cylindrical drum in Bengal and its name is Khomok. The khomok of the Baul people of Bengal is also known as a khamak, anandalahari, and gubgubi. It looks like a small drum with a wooden body and a skinhead. The head is pierced with a string attached to a small piece of wood or metal to prevent it from passing all the way through the skin. The other end of the string travels through the instrument to come out the bottom opening and is attached to a small brass handle. The khomok is played by placing the drum body under the arm and pulling on the handle thus pulling the string and placing tension on the drum skin. The string is plucked while the tension on the string is varied, producing a surprising vocal-like sound. Some khomok have two strings that are played at the same time increasing both the volume and complexity of the sound.
Khonb: Khom. Same as Khonbak.
Khonbak: Some believe that Khonbak was a small Kettledrum with metallic body. Then it was made of clay and now it is made of wood and it is same as today Tonbak.
Tonbak-e-zourkhaneh: A slightly larger than normal Tonbak to be played in zourkhaneh (Traditional Persian Gymnasium). Zourkhaneh literally means house of power.
Tonbak-e-bazmi: A kind of Tonbak to be played in parties.
Tonbak-e-razmi: Tonbak-e-zourkhaneh.
Tonbak-e-Ta'lim: A kind of Tonbak for training the athletes in zourkhaneh (Traditional Persian Gymnasium).
Tonbook: Another name of Tonbak.
Zarb (ضَرب): Another name of Tonbak. Zarbgir is old expression for Tonbak player and it comes from the verb Zarb gereftan that means to play on Zarb.
Zarb-e-zourkhaneh: A kind of Tonbak to be played in zourkhaneh (Traditional Persian Gymnasium). Zourkhaneh literally means house of power.
Zarbuleh: A kind of goblet drum to be played in North Africa and Syria. In Syria it is covered with fish-skin and in North Africa with goatskin
Tabang: Another name of Tonbak (Persian goblet drum).
Early to mid 19th-century zarb, part of Qajar Iran. Madjid Khaladj playing Tombak
Zirbaghali
Zerbaghali
A goblet drum with a body made of clay. It is similar to the tonbak and used in Afghanistan. The skin has a black spot called siyahi, made of tuning paste. Drum influenced by India with technique that draws on Persian Tonbak and Indian tabla and darbuka.
Clay-bodied drum with hide stretched across, used by a Murshid (mentor) in a zorkhaneh gym to guide the exercise. Used alongside the Zang-e-zourkhaneh bell (زنگ زورخانه ای). The name is actually the name of the rhythm or drum-beat, applied to the instrument.
Zorkhaneh drum and zang-e-zourkhaneh bell, right side of image.
Idiophones
Name in English
Name in Persian or other names
Description
Picture
Alvah
It is a set of wooden or metallic plates that is played by being struck with sticks.
Jalājil is plural of Juljul. Arabic word for bells.[9] The word may have spread as far as Nepal where a type of cymbal is called Jhyali. Juljul can also be used of the bells hung on herd animals.[10]
Ancient bell, Western Iran, circa 150 B.C. - 224 A.D.
Historically, a wooden plank hit with a hammer or tapped on cobblestone to make clanking noise. In modern Persian, naqus (ناقوس) means bell.
As a wooden plank, it was considered by Muhammed to signal a call to prayer. Known mainly as Christian instrument, allowed to be used in Muslim areas instead of a bell.
Large cymbal played in mourning ceremonies. A smaller version, by contrast, is used in festive ceremonies.
His elephant-attendants' crowns of gold, Their golden girdles and their golden torques, Their golden Sanj (cymbals) and their golden Zang (bells)... --Shahname
In moderns use, senj (سِنج) is the same as cymbal.
As they have been transcribed into European script, sanj and sinj have been confused. Farmer makes it clear that sinj was the cymbals, while sanj was the jank. However, in the Arabic and Persian scripts, diacritical marks to indicate vowels are optional, and sanj/sinj are spelled the same.
ṣunnūj ṣaghīra, small metal castanets used by dancers[12] (now called Zill)
Sanj, large cymbals or crash cymbals go back into antiquity; these are from Mesopotamia, 3rd millennium B.C.Military band behind Emperor Humayun includes sanj.
Saz-e-fulad
A percussion instrument made 35 metallic plates of different sizes. Fulad (Arabicized of Pulad) means "steel". Saz means "musical instrument".
Saz-e-kubei: Percussion instrument. Kubei (from the verb Kubidan) means "percussion" and means to beat or strike.
Saz-e-zarbi: Percussion instrument. Zarbi means rhythmic composition.
Saz-e-zarbi-ye-pusti: Percussion skinned instrument. Pust and pusti mean "skin" and "skinned".
Zang-e zurchaneh, bells used in Zurkhaneh power house, Iran
Persuan word for bells.
Zang-e-zourkhaneh (زنگ زورخانه ای): A kind of Zang to be played in zourkhaneh (Traditional Persian Gymnasium). Not finger cymbals but hanging bells.
zang-i kaftar, bells worn on the wrist
zang-e schotor, camel bells, larger bells, small bells, bells attached to cloth (as neck band or knee band), clusters of bells suspended from larger bells
Zangol: Another name of Zang.
Zangolicheh: Small Zang or Jaras. It comes from Zangol and the diminutive suffix "cheh".
Zanguleh: Small bell.
Akbar riding an elephant. The elephant has multiple bells, as well as chains that jingle.zang-e schotor, camel bellsZang, braclet of bells from Uzbekistan
Finger cymbals made of copper, played per pairs fixed on the inch and the major one of each hand. Mainly employed to stress the dance, one finds them in particular present in the miniatures Persians on figurines dancers of the beginning of the century, and in the past on low-relieves. Their existence seems to go back to immemorial times.
Names in Persian relate to the Sanj (sanj angshati) and the zang (Zang-e-sarangoshti)
Zanjir
زنجی
Zanchir in Pahlavi
Zanjir means chain. It is a string or loop of hawk bells, able to be hung. It sounds by shaking. Portrait of Kay Khusraw, by Mihr 'Ali, Qajar Iran, Isfahan 1803-4, cropped to show hawk. Hawk has on hawk bells, not a zanjir string, but 2 single bells.
Grotesque dancer wearing Zanjir (زنجی).
Shaken idiophones
Name in English
Name in Persian or other names
Description
Picture
Akhlakandu
Ajlakandu
A very ancient percussion instrument. It was a type of rattle made from a skull part-filled with small stones. Its modern name is Jeghjeghe meaning simply 'rattle'. It was played by being shaken.
Chaghaneh
Chaghabeh
A type of gourd rattle, filled with small stones. Used by dancers.
Musical instruments of the Tajiks, also used by Uzbeks and in Afghanistan. Flat river stones, held in pairs and shaken; makes clicking and rattling noise; some sounds are similar to castanets.
These images are from the Russian Turkestan, circa 1865-1872, an area in which Persian, Turkish, Arab/Islamic and Mongol peoples conquered and settled over the ages. When the Russians conquered, both Turkish and Persian languages were being spoken. The images of musical instruments show the mixing of cultures; some such as the tanbur appear normal for Persian culture. But there are variations, such as a kamanche that appears to be a bowed tanbur, and the kauz or kobyz, which is a Turkish word for an instrument that is closely related to the Ghaychak, a Persian instrument.
Russian Turkestan, about 1872. Dozaleh or "koshnai"
Persian traditional music or Iranian traditional music, also known as Persian classical music or Iranian classical music, refers to the classical music of Iran. It consists of characteristics developed through the country's classical, medieval, and contemporary eras. It also influenced areas and regions that are considered part of Greater Iran.
The kamancheh is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek music with slight variations in the structure of the instrument. The kamancheh is related to the rebab which is the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and the bowed Byzantine lyra. The strings are played with a variable-tension bow.
Zills or zils, also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called sāgāt in Egypt. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pairs can be set in a frame to make a tambourine.
The tar is a long-necked, waisted lute family instrument, used by many cultures and countries including Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and others near the Caucasus and Central Asia regions. The older and more complete name of the tār is čahārtār or čārtār, meaning in Persian "four string",. This is in accordance with a practice common in Persian-speaking areas of distinguishing lutes on the basis of the number of strings originally employed. Beside the čārtār, these include the dotār, setār, pančtār, and šaštār or šeštār.
The music of Central Asia is as vast and unique as the many cultures and peoples who inhabit the region. Principal instrument types are two- or three-stringed lutes, the necks either fretted or fretless; fiddles made of horsehair; flutes, mostly sige at both ends and either end-blown or side-blown; and jew harps, mostly metal. Percussion instruments include frame drums, tambourines, and kettledrums. Instrumental polyphony is achieved primarily by lutes and fiddles.
The rebab is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. The instrument is typically bowed, but is sometimes plucked. It is one of the earliest known bowed instruments, named no later than the 8th century, and is the parent of many bowed and stringed instruments.
Badakhshan is a region of Tajikistan and Afghanistan with a unique musical heritage, especially that of the remote Pamiri Ismailis. Badakhshan's unique folk scene is said to be characteristed by the use of many chromatized tones in a narrow melodic range, and the use of a characteristic minor-like scale.
A setar is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.
The Kamkars is a Kurdish Iran musical family group of seven brothers and a sister, all from the city of Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdistan province of Iran.
The Shahrud was a short-necked lute, illustrated in the Surname-i Hümayun, resembling an oud or barbat, but being much larger. The larger size gave the instrument added resonance and a deeper (bass) range, like the modern mandobass, mandolone or Algerian mandole.
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum.
The sornā or sornāy is an ancient Iranian woodwind instrument.
The term Tanbur can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related long-necked lutes used in art and folk traditions. Similar or identical instruments are also known by other terms." These instruments are used in the traditional music of Iran, India, Kurdistan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
The mugni (archlute) is a Persian stringed musical instrument which resembles a tar except that the two globes are connected and not separated like the tar's.
The zerbaghali is a goblet-shaped hand drum that is played in the folk music of Afghanistan.
Amir Alan Vahab is a Sufi musician and educator in Persian culture and traditional music.
Lutes are stringed musical instruments that include a body and "a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body".
Rastak Music Group is an Iranian contemporary folk music ensemble that was formed as an experimental music group in 1997. Rastak seeks to collect, record and interpret Persian folk music for a global audience.
Nafir, also nfīr, plural anfār, Turkish nefir, is a slender shrill-sounding straight natural trumpet with a cylindrical tube and a conical metal bell, producing one or two notes. It was used as a military signaling instrument and as a ceremonial instrument in countries shaped by Islamic culture in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. In Ottoman, Persian and Mugulin miniatures, the nafīr is depicted in battle scenes. In Christian culture, it displaced or was played alongside of the curved tuba or horn, as seen in artwork of about the 14th century A.D.
Balochi music is the musical traditions of the Baloch people and music in the Balochi language. The Baloch people have a rich oral tradition that includes poems and songs to celebrate or commemorate many events such as religious rites, festivals, or holidays and dance.
References
Abbas Aryanpur and Manoochehr Aryanpur, The Concise Persian-English Dictionary, Amir Kabir Publication Organization, Tehran, 1990.
David R. Courtney, Fundamentals of Tabla, Vol. I, Sur Sangeet Services, Houston, 1998.
Michael Kennedy, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1980.
Mehran Poor Mandan, The Encyclopedia of Iranian Old Music, Tehran, 2000.
Cemsid Salehpur, Türkçe Farsça Genel Sözlügü, Tehran, 1996.
Mehdi Setayeshgar, Vazhe-Name-ye-Musighi-ye-Iran Zamin, Tehran, Vol. I (1995) & Vol. II (1996).
↑ L. K. A. K. Iyer (1984). "Arbana". In Stanley Sadie (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol.1. London: Macmillan Press. p.68.
1 2 Farmer, Henry George (2001). A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth Century. New Delhi: Goodword Books. p.154. ISBN9788187570639. ...pomp and circumstance of war became the order of the day, and we finds bands with the būq al-nafīr (large metal trumpet), the dabdāb (kettledrum), the qaṣ'a (shallow kettledrum), as well as the ṣunūj (cymbals).
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