by Wafaa' Salman

The origin of the words lute, rebec, guitar and naker from the Arabic Al-'ud, rabab, qithara and naqqara, is a well-known fact [seethe Oxford Dictionary]"
Other words such as adufe, albogon, anafil, exabeba, atabal, and atambalare originally Arabic as well. They are from Al-duff, Al-booq, Al-nafeer, Al-shabbabe, Al-Tabl and Al-Tinbal. The adufe is a square tambourine. Another kind of tambourine mentioned in Farmer's book is a round type called panderete. "The word equates with the Arabic bendair." The Bendair resembles the Taar, but without jingling metal discs. Instead, there are "snares"stretched across the inside of the head, which give the instrument a tone like the Western side drum. The Taar is another type of tambourine with jingling plates in the rim. The albogon, resembles the Arabian al-booq, was in one case a horn, and in another a sort of saxophone improved by the Andalusian Sultan Al-Hakim II. Al-Shalahi (13th century) informs us that the Christians borrowed the instrument from the Arabs.The anafil was a long straight trumpet. Farmer mentions that "it has been generally admitted by our musical antiquaries that the straight cylindrical bore trumpet came from the Arabs. Could this have been the particular feature of the nafir and anafil? We read in "Alf Laila wa Laila"(Thousand and One Nights) that a horn-player "blew" (nafakha) the booq, but that a trumpter "blasted" (SaHe, lit. "Split") the nafir. It is possible that these terms convey the distinction between the tones of the conical bore hornand the cylindrical bore trumpet." "The origin of the words atabal and atambal from the Arabic al-Tabl and the Persian al-Tinbal, is I believe, clear enough philologically", says Farmer;"It would follow in consequence that the former is the older word, and that the latter was adopted at the time of the Crusades." Al-Tabl is a big drum.Al-Tumboor seems to be identical to the Tabl. It belongs to the military and processional music. It was adopted by Western armies for their military bandsat the time of the Crusades. These bands before such adoption had only been served by trumpets and hornes.In addition to the previous instruments, there are many others whose Arabic name or origin have not been well noticed. "Practically, the entiredrum family came into Western Europe through the Arabian contact, or was popularised by this medium." For example, the Kittledrum (naker, timbale)which was called "le tambour de Perses." The naker (originally naqqara) or the kittledrum is a timpanic instrument with a dual hemispheric body played with wooden drumsticks. It is one of the essential instruments used with Maqam and goes as far back as the Abbasid era (prior to the 12th century) when Baghdad became the capital of the Muslim World.Dirbakka, dunbug and Tabla are various names of one kind of a drum.

Tabla is an Arabic word while dunbug, a term used in Iraq and other Gulf countries, is a Persian word. The word dirbakka (or dirbakki) is a slang used in the Laventine (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.)
The Tabla is about 15 inches long and being played either loose on either legs or while being suspended by a cord over the left shoulder and carried under the left arm. It is beaten with both hands and yields different sounds when beaten near the edge and near the middle. The Iraqi Tabla or dunbug which is only used in Iraq today is about 3 inches in diameter and specifically used for country and gypsy style music.
The Kaithaar is an interesting instrument as to the origin of the flat- chested guitar in Europe. It has been argued that the Spanish word guitarra (with t) was derived from the Arabic qitara, rather than from the Greek ki0apa (with th). It seems that the Arabic words qitara or qithara, were only used when dealing with the Greek or Byzantine instrument, while kaithaar was givento the Arabic insrtument. Henry George Farmer says that "even Al-ShalaHi saysthat the word Kaithaar is post-classical. He quotes a short definition of itby Abu Bakr Al-Turtushi (d. 1126), who merely says that it is a "stringedinstrument." More important, however, is a verse by Ibn Abd Rabbihi (d.940)in its praise."Among stringed instruments, is the Arabian qanoon, which became the Euoropean Kanon, Canon and Canale at the same time.
Al-qanoon is atrapezoidal instrument with a range of three octaves which is played byplucking with a plectrum on the tip and index fingers of each hand. The totalnumber of strings may vary between 64 and 82.

Four theories are available to us by Arab and European scholars on the origin of al-qanoon: One states that al-qanoon is originally Greek, the otherindicates that it has originated in ancient Egypt, the third says it has originated from a rectangular musical instrument used in ancient Assyria which had parallel strings on top of a sound box, and the fourth theory states that qanoon is originally Indian.There has been various theories in regard to the origin of the word qanoon as well. However, the oldest recorded usage of the word qanoon as achrodophone instrument was during the Abbasid era around the 10th century. Itwas mentioned in the stories of One Thousand and one Nights.
Al-'ud is a half pear-shaped with stripes of inlaid wood, the 'ud has 10to 12 strings, is unfretted and is played with a small plectrum. However, a detailed chapter in a book titled "Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments" by George Henry Farmer indicates that the Arabian and Persian lute was Fretted.Mr. Farmer in The Legacy of Islam (1931) wrote: "The Islamic legagacy to Western Europe in musical instruments was of the greatest importance.

There were many distinctly novel Arabian types introduced. With these instruments came several materal benefits. European minstrels, prior to the Arabian contact, only had the cithara and harp among stringed instruments, and they only had their ears to guide them when tuning. The Arabs brought to Europetheir lutes, pandores, and guitars, with the places of the notes fixed on the fingerboard by means of frets which were determined by measurement. This alone was a note worthy advance."The origin of al-'ud is a complex one to deal with. There are six theories on the origin of al-'ud: One says it is originally Sumerian, the second is Persian, the third is Egyptian, the fourth is Arian, the fifth is Jewish and the sixth is Akkadian of ancient Iraq.The word 'Ud comes from the Arabic word for wood. Pictures of 'Ud-likeinstruments have been discovered in the ruins of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Persians and Indians played it in ancient times. However, it was the Arabs (during the Abbasid Era), who perfected the 'Ud, called it so and passed it on to the West.
Another stringed instrument is al-SanToor. The word al-SanToor belongs to the family of Semetic languages; Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Amharic. In the Tourah or the Old Testament, the word "p'samterion" was translated into Greek as "psalterim" and to Latin, it became "psalterium". In the Arabic translation of Tourah, the word became "SanTeer". Al-SanToor belongs to the family of chrodophones and consists of 72 (to 100) strings. It is trapezoidaland played by two sticks. Its origin is said to be from ancient Babylonia.Al-jawza is nowadays only common in Iraq. It is one of the main instruments used with the Maqaam. Al-jawza is called so because it is made of Jawz Al-Hind or the Indian Coconut. It has four strings and a round soundbox.Arab musicologists are able to trace their own folk forms back to the Bedouin of ancient times, whose caravan song-the huda- cheered their desert voyages.
The most two famous instruments used in the Bedouin music are the naay and rababeh or rebec.Rababeh is a single string instrument with a square soundbox played witha single string bow. The rababeh was brought to Spain by the Arabs and spread from Spain to Europe under the name rebec. It is usually referred to Al-Farabi (10th century) as the first to have mentioned the rababeh. However,Ali of Isphahan mentioned that rababeh was used at the court of Baghdad two centuries and a half before that. "This instrument was counted as one of theprecursors of the European violin."Among the "wood-wind" instruments, the Arabian influence is as note worthyas that of the family of drums. The medieval xelami is actually the Arabian Zulami. An instrument invented at Baghdad at the beginning of the ninth century.The exabeba was a small flute resembles the Arabian Shabbabe or Al-naay.Al-naay is a Persian term. The Arabic words for the same instrument may beQaSaba, Shabbabe or minjara. Al-naay is a vertical flute and one of the oldest instruments employed in Arabic music. It is simply an open tube madeof sugar cane whereby the instrumentalist blows diagonally accross the openend.The wind-pipe goes as far back as the stone ages and was found all overthe Eastern hemisphere in ancient times.

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