Persian musical instruments


Persian musical instruments or Iranian musical instruments
can be broadly classified into three categories: classical, Western and [Iranian Iranian folk music|folk music|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 the ancient era, the Silk Road had an effective role in this distribution.

String instruments

Orchestral
Folklore

Wind instruments

Orchestral
Folklores
Historical

Percussion instruments

While Arabic and Persian are separate languages, to a great extent the cultures intermixed during and after the Muslim 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, for which the Arab word is also daf or duff. Similarly, conquests and cultural intermixing have made Turkish words available, such as kudum.

Images from Turkestan

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.

Others

The electronic keyboard is a popular western instrument.
There are numerous native musical instruments used in folk music.