Persian musical instruments



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.

String instruments
Orchestral
 * Tar
 * Setar
 * Kamancheh
 * Ghaychak
 * Barbat
 * Chang (instrument)/Angular harp
 * Santoor
 * Qānūn
 * Shurangiz

Wind instruments
Orchestral Folklores
 * Ney
 * Balaban (instrument)
 * Donali
 * Doudouk
 * Dozaleh
 * Garmon
 * Karna
 * Ney-anbān
 * Sorna

Historical
 * Nafir

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.

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.