This list contains musical instruments of symbolic or cultural importance within a nation, state, ethnicity, tribe or other group of people.
In some cases, national instruments remain in wide use within the nation (such as the Puerto Rican cuatro), but in others, their importance is primarily symbolic (such as the Welsh triple harp). Danish ethnologist Lisbet Torp has concluded that some national instrument traditions, such as the Finnish kantele, are invented, pointing to the "influence of intellectuals and nationalists in the nationwide promotion of selected musical instruments as a vehicle for nationalistic ideas".[1] Governments do not generally officially recognize national instruments; some exceptions being the Paraguayan harp,[2] the Japanese koto[3] and the Trinidadian steelpan.[4]
This list compiles instruments that have been alleged to be a national instrument by any of a variety of sources, and an instrument's presence on the list does not indicate that its status as a national instrument is indisputable, only that its status has been credibly argued. Each instrument on this list has a Hornbostel-Sachs number immediately below it. This number indicates the instrument's classification within the Hornbostel-Sachs system (H-S), which organizes instruments numerically based on the manner in which they produce sound.[5]
Images and recordings are supplied where available; note that there are often variations within a national musical tradition, and thus the images and recordings may not be accurate in depicting the entire spectrum of the given nation's music, and that some images and recordings may be taken from a region outside the core of the national instrument's home when such distinctions have little relevance to the information present in the image and recordings. A number of countries have more than one instrument listed, each having been described as a national instrument, not usually by the same source; neither the presence of multiple entries for one nation, nor for multiple nations for one instrument, on this list is reflective of active dispute in any instance. Alternative names and spellings are given. These mostly come from alternative spellings within English or alternative methods of transliterating from a foreign language to English, such as the Chinese yangqin, also transliterated yang ch'in and yang qin. Others reflect regions or subcultures within a given nation, such as the Australian didgeridoo which is or has been called didjeridu, yidaki, yiraki, magu, kanbi and ihambilbilg in various Australian Aboriginal languages. All non-English words are italicized.
Nation | Instrument | Description Recording |
H-S number | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|
Afghanistan | rubab[6][7] rabab |
Short-necked three-stringed lute with sympathetic and drone strings, fretted and plucked with a plectrum, with a double-chambered body, the lower part of which is covered in skin, and with three main strings | 321.321-6 | ![]() |
Albania | Çiftelia Gajde Lahuta |
![]() | ||
Arab | oud[8] |
Pear-shaped fretless stringed instrument, with five courses of two strings and a single eleventh string, a bent back and a bowl-shaped body, often with up to three soundholes, played with a pick | 321.321-6 | ![]() |
Argentina | bandoneón[9][10] |
Button accordion with a box shape, played with both hands using buttons that produce two sets of notes per hand | 412.132 | ![]() |
Argentina | guitar[11][12] |
Fretted stringed instrument with a hollow body and a soundboard | 321.322 | ![]() |
Armenia | duduk[7] daduk |
Double-reed pipe with wide reeds made from pieces of cane in a duckbill-type assembly, generally diatonic and with a single octave range | 421.211.12 | ![]() |
Australian, Indigenous | didgeridoo[13][14] didjeridu, yidaki, yiraki, magu, kanbi, ihambilbilg |
Straight trumpet without fingerholes, traditionally made from a trunk or thick branch of a tree, sometimes with a rim of beeswax around the blowing end, requires circular breathing | 423.121.11 | ![]() |
Austria, | Bock[15] Bockpfeife |
Use of goatskins in constructing the bag, similar to the common use of other goat-terms for bagpipes in other nations | 422.112.2-62 + 422.221.1-621 |
![]() |
Azerbaijan | balaban[16][17] |
Set of cylindrical shawm-like instruments, with an air reservoir like a bagpipe | 422.121-62 | |
Baganda peoples of Uganda | endongo[18] |
Bowl lyre made of lizardskin with strings tied to a piece of wood inserted into two holes on two arms | 321.21 | ![]() |
Balochs | suroz[19] |
Bowed string instrument with a long neck, similar to a fiddle or sarangi and played vertically | 321.322 | — |
Bangladesh | dotara[20] |
Small stringed instrument, with plucked metal strings, elongated belly as soundboard and narrow neck ending in a pegbox, decorated with carvings of animals and covered with skin | 321.322 | ![]() |
Bashkir | kurai[21][22] |
Long open endblown flute with five fingerholes | 421.111.12 | ![]() |
Basotho | lesiba[23] |
Stringed instrument, blown rather than plucked or strummed, with a single string and tuning noose attached both to a bow and a feather quill, with a frame made from a coconut shell | 311.121.222 | |
Bavaria | zither[24][25] Volkszither |
Stringed instrument with a soundbox, with strings stretched across it, originally with four melody strings and no more than fifteen accompaniment strings | 314.122 | ![]() |
Bhutan | dranyen[26] dranyen, dramnyen |
Seven-stringed lute, fretless, long-necked and double-waisted with rosette-shaped sound hole | 321.321 | ![]() |
Bolivia | charango[27] charanga |
Fretted, hollow-bodied bowl lute, usually with four or five doubled strings, with as many as eleven tunings, traditionally made from an armadillo shell | 321.321-6 | |
Brazil | guitar[28] violão |
Fretted six-stringed instrument with a soundboard and a hollow body, originally with steel strings, but now more commonly with nylon | 321.322 | ![]() |
Brazil | berimbau[29] |
Single-stringed musical bow |
311.121.221 | ![]() |
Brazil | pandeiro[30] |
Handheld frame drum with metal jingles (platinelas) attached, tuned through adjusting the tension of the head, can also be shaken or rasped | 211.311 + 112.122 |
|
Bulgaria | gaida[31] |
Bagpipe with three types of chanters, one a simple reed, open at one end, another a small, conical tube with eight fingerholes, one of which is the flea-hole (a small hole made out of a tube that can raise any note a half-step), and the last is a long, no-holed drone | 422.22-62 | ![]() |
China | guqin[32][33] qin |
A plucked seven-string zither with open strings and a range of about four octaves | 312.22 | ![]() |
China | guzheng[34] zheng, gu-zheng |
Half-tube zither, rectangular with three sound holes on the bottom, now with twenty-one strings most typically, pentatonic tuning, strings are plucked by hand | 312.22-5 | ![]() |
China | pipa[35] |
Pear-shaped bowl lute with a neck, played by plucking | 321.321-5 | ![]() |
China | yangqin[7] yang ch'in, yang qin |
Hammered dulcimer, with a trapezoidal sounding board and traditionally bronze strings, struck with rubber-tipped bamboo hammers | 314.122-4 | ![]() |
Colombia | Tiple Colombiano[36] Tiple[37] |
Small guitar-like fretted instrument with twelve strings arranged in four triple-strung courses. | 321.322 | ![]() |
Costa Rica | marimba[38] |
Xylophone-like instrument with gourd resonators, two sets of overlapping keys, struck with mallets | 111.222-4 | ![]() |
Corsica | cetera ceterina, cetara |
A musical instrument of the cittern family, common in Corsica. | 111.224-4 | ![]() |
Crete | lyra[39] |
Three-stringed fretted, pear-shaped instrument with a hollow body and a vaulted back, propped up on the knee | 321.21 | ![]() |
Croatia | tamburica and Lijerica[40][41] tamburitza |
Lute-like stringed instrument with a long neck, picked or strummed, variable number of strings | 321.321 | ![]() |
Cuba | tres[42] |
Guitar-like instrument with a neck and three courses of two strings each | 321.322 | ![]() |
Dagara peoples of Ghana | gyil[43] |
Xylophone-like calabash gourd with holes covered in spider silk, wooden frame, struck with a hammer | 111.222-4 | ![]() |
Ecuador | rondador[44][45] |
Set of chorded bamboo panpipes that produces two tones simultaneously, consisting of pieces of cane, placed side by side in order by size and closed at one end, played by blowing across the top of the instrument | 421.112.11 | ![]() |
Egypt, Ancient | harp[46] |
Open harp, used in widely varying forms, though originally semi-circular and with five to seven strings, number of strings increased over time, while the size decreased | 322.12 | ![]() |
Egypt, Ancient | sistrum[47] |
U-shaped frame drum with small rings that make sound when shaken | 112.112 | |
England | English concertina[7] |
A small free reed instrument, usually hexagonal in shape. The instrument is played by moving bellows between the hands to blow air over reeds, each note being sounded by a button. | 412.132 | ![]() |
England | Northumbrian smallpipes[48] |
Bellows-blown bagpipes from Northeastern England consisting of a single chanter (generally with keys) and usually four drones. | 422.112 | ![]() |
Etruria | kithara[49] |
Stringed instrument with a deep soundbox made of two tables, connected by ribs, with strings attached to a tuning bar, played with a plectrum | 321.22 | ![]() |
Finland | kantele[1][50][51][52][53] kannel |
Zither–harp, traditionally with five strings, now with up to thirty, held in the lap | 314.122 | ![]() |
Finland, especially Swedish-speaking Finns | violin[53][54] |
Four stringed instrument, bowed, hourglass-shape and an arched top and back |
321.322 | ![]() |
Fula | tambin[55][56] sereendu, fulannu |
Diagonal diatonic flute without a bell, made from a conical vine, with three finger-holes and a rectangular embouchere with two wings on either side | 411.111.22 | ![]() |
Galicia | gaita[57][58] gaita de fole, gaita galega |
Diatonic bagpipe with a conical chanter and at least one bass drone, used to accompany both spiritual and secular, as well as lyric and dance music, usually accompanied by a drum (tambour) | 422.211.2-62 | ![]() |
Germany | waldzither[59] German lute, also applied to the lute guitar |
Cittern with nine steel strings; tuned C, G G, C C, E E, G G; famous for allegedly been played by Martin Luther at the Wartburg | 321.322 | ![]() |
Greece, Ancient | aulos[60] auloi |
Highly variant double-shawm with a cylindrical bore | 422.121 | ![]() |
Greece, Ancient | lyre[61][62] |
Stringed instrument, strummed with a plectrum, with the free hand silencing unwanted strings, traditionally made from a tortoise shell | 321.21 | ![]() |
Greece, Modern | bouzouki[1] |
String instrument with a pear-shaped body and a long neck, played with plectrum | 321.321 | ![]() |
Guatemala | marimba[63][64] |
Xylophone-like instrument with gourd resonators, struck with mallets, with a two level keyboard so it can play the full chromatic scale | 111.222-4 | ![]() |
Hawaii | ukulele[65] |
String instrument derived from the Portuguese braguinha, from the Hawaiian uku lele, jumping flea, referring to the swift fingerwork the instrument requires |
321.322 | ![]() |
Hungary | cimbalom[66] czimbalom, cymbalom, cymbalum, ţambal, tsymbaly, tsimbl, santouri, santur |
Chromatic hammered dulcimer with four legs | 314.122-4 | ![]() |
India | saraswati veena[67] vina |
Semitonically fretted lute with a long, cylindrical shape, resting on two gourds | 311.222 | ![]() |
Indonesia | angklung[68][69] |
Two bamboo tubes, closed at one end and with tongues, attached to a square frame, played by shaking from side to side, causing the tongues to vibrate | 112.122 | ![]() |
Iran | tar[70] |
The musical instrument, which has 6 wires and is the main instrument in traditional Iranian music, is produced by Mazzrab. | 314.122-4 | ![]() |
Ireland | Irish Harp (Cruit or Cláirseach) |
Polychord wire-strung harp with a fore-pillar | 322.221 | ![]() |
Ireland | Great Irish Warpipes Píob Mhór |
In modern times this instrument is essentially identical to the Great Highland Bagpipe | 422.112.2-62 + 422.221.1-621 |
![]() |
Ireland | Uilleann Pipes Píobaí Uilleann, Union Pipes |
Pump blown Bagpipe | {{{Number}}} | ![]() |
Israel | kinnor[71] David's harp |
Biblically described historic instrument, probably a cithara; in modern Hebrew, refers to the violin | 321.22 | ![]() |
Italy | mandolin[72] |
Stringed instrument |
321.321 | ![]() |
Japan | koto[73] |
Long and hollow thirteen-stringed instrument | 312.22-7 | ![]() |
Jewish | shofar[74] |
Horn, flattened by heat and hollowed, used for more religious than purely secular purposes, made from the horn of an animal, most typically a ram or kudu | 423.121.1 | ![]() |
Kazakhstan | dombra[75][76] |
Fretted, long-necked lute with a round body, played by plucking with a plectrum | 321.321-6 | ![]() |
Kenya | nyatiti[77][78][79] |
3-foot-long (0.91 m) harp, plucked with both hands, made of wood and goat or antelope skin | 321.21-5 | ![]() |
Khoikhoi | goura[80] |
Single stringed instrument, blown rather than plucked or strummed, with the string attached to a coconut shell resonator and with a tension noose wrapped around the string to adjust the pitch | 311.121.222 | — |
Korea | gayageum[81][82] kayagum, kayago |
zither-like string instrument, with 12 strings. | 312.22-5 | ![]() |
Kyrgyzstan | komuz[83][84] |
Three-stringed fretless lute, made from wood with gut strings | 321.321 | ![]() |
Lanna (Northern Thailand) | pin pia[85] |
Chest-resonated stick zither with two to five strings | 311.221 | — |
Laos | khene[86] khaen |
Mouth organ with bamboo tubes, attached in pairs to the mouthpiece, and with fixed free reeds | 412.132 | ![]() |
Latvia | kokles[87][88] kūkles |
Diatonic, lute-like string instrument | 314.122 | ![]() |
Lebanon | darbuka[89] debakeh |
Goblet-shaped hand drum | 211.261.21 | |
Lithuania | birbyne[90] |
Aerophone, can be single- or double-reed, with or without a mouthpiece | 422 | ![]() |
Lithuania | kanklė[91] |
Stringed instrument | 314.122 | ![]() |
Lobi peoples of Ghana | gyil[43] |
Keyed calabash gourds with holes covered in spider silk, wooden frame | 111.222-4 | ![]() |
Madagascar | valiha[92][93] |
Tubular zither | 312.11 | ![]() |
Mandinka of West Africa | balo[94][95] balafon, bala, balafo, bala, balaphone, balaphon, balaphong, balphone, balangi, balani, gyil |
Set of wooden pieces, mounted on gourds, in a frame and played using two rubber-tipped mallets, held in hands with iron cylinders and rings attached to add a jingling sound | 111.212 + 112.111 |
— |
Maroons of Jamaica | abeng[96] |
Aerophone made from the end of a cow horn with the tip broken off on the side, which is blown into | 423.122.2 | ![]() |
Mexico | marimba[97] |
Xylophone-like instrument with wooden square tubes resonators, struck with mallets, with a two level keyboard so it can play the full chromatic scale | 111.222-4 | ![]() |
Mongolia | morin khuur[98][99] horse-head fiddle, igil |
Two-stringed instrument, held between the legs, with a trapezoidal body and a horse's head typically carved on the upper edge of the pegbox | 321.322 | ![]() |
Montenegro | gusle[100] |
Stringed instrument, round, typically with one string bound at the top of the neck with a tuning peg | 321.321-71 | ![]() |
Myanmar | saung-gauk[101] saung, Burmese harp |
Arched harp with sixteen strings, attached to the harp with red cotton tassels | 322.11 | |
Nepal | madal[102] |
Double-headed cylindrical drum, slightly bulging at the waist, held horizontally and played double-handed | 211.212.1 | ![]() |
Netherlands | fiddle[103] |
Four-stringed instrument, bowed | 321.322 | ![]() |
Nicaragua | marimba[104] |
Xylophone-like instrument with gourd resonators | 111.222-4 | ![]() |
Norway | Hardingfele[50][105][106] Hardanger fiddle |
Ornately decorated fiddle with four main strings and four resonating strings beneath them, which are not touched by the bow | 321.322-71 | ![]() |
Norway | langeleik[50] |
Rectangular zither with five or six strings, one melody string and several drone strings | 314.122 | ![]() |
Pakistan | Daf[107] dafli, dap, def, tef, defi, gaval, duf, duff, dof |
It is a Pakistani version of frame drum musical instrument | 211.311 | |
Paraguay | harp, Paraguayan[108][109][110] |
Diatonic harp with 32, 36, 38 or 40 strings, made from tropical wood and with songs in the Guarani language, with an exaggerated neck-arch, played with the fingernail | 322.211 | ![]()
|
Peru | cajón[111][112] |
Wooden box with a hole in one side, derived from containers used to transport agricultural products by portworkers | 111.221 | ![]() |
Peru | charango[113] charanga, chillador |
Guitar-like instrument, most commonly with ten strings in two courses and made from an armadillo back | 321.321-6 | ![]() |
Philippines | Kudyapi[114] |
rondalla plucked chordophone with 14 strings tuned F# B E A D G. | 321.321 | ![]() |
Polynesia | nose flute[115] |
Flute, made from a single piece of bamboo, with three holes to blow into from the nostrils, with fingerholes | 421.111.22 | ![]() |
Portugal | Portuguese guitar[116] |
Fretted stringed instrument with a hollow body | 321.322 | ![]() |
Puerto Rico | cuatro[117] |
Fretted stringed instrument with a hollow body, derived from the Spanish tiple and other stringed instruments, made from carved wood with strings (ten, in five sets of two) of leather strips or dried animal gut | 321.322 | ![]() |
Rome, Ancient | tibiae[118] aulos (Greek name) |
Double-reed shawm, played paired | 422.122 | ![]() |
Russia | Garmon[119] |
Garmon, bellow-driven free reed with keys or buttons to modify the air flow |
412.132 | ![]() |
Russia | balalaika[7] |
Family of triangle-shaped lute-type instruments | 321.32 | ![]() |
Russia | gusli[120] |
Zither-like instrument with between eleven and thirty-six strings, tuned diatonically | 314.122 | |
Russia | spoons[121] |
Painted wooden teaspoons, used as a percussion instrument | 111.141 | ![]() |
Ryukyus of Japan | sanshin[122] |
Three stringed banjo-like instrument, covered with snakeskin | 321.312-6 | ![]() |
Sakha | khomus[123] |
jaw harp, made from a reed attached to a frame, plucked | 121.221 | ![]() |
Scotland | bagpipe, highland[1][124][125] |
Bagpipe with a chanter, blowpipe, two tenor drones and a bass drone | 422.112.2-62 + 422.221.1-621 |
![]() |
Serbia | Accordion[126] |
Accordion, bellow-driven free reed with keys or buttons to modify the air flow |
412.132 | ![]() |
Serbia | frula[127] svirala, jedinka |
End-blown wooden flute with six fingerholes | 421.211.12 | ![]() |
Serbia | gajda[31] Surle |
Bagpipe with three types of chanters, one a simple reed, open at one end, another a small, conical tube with eight fingerholes, one of which is the flea-hole (a small hole made out of a tube that can raise any note a half-step), and the last is a long, no-holed drone | 422.22-62 | ![]() |
Serbia | gusle[128] |
Stringed instrument, round, typically with one string bound at the top of the neck with a tuning peg |
321.321-71 | ![]() |
Slovakia | fujara[129][130] |
Endblown long bass diatonic fipple flute | 421.211.12 | ![]() |
Slovenia | accordion[131] |
Accordion, bellow-driven free reed with keys or buttons to modify the air flow |
412.132 | ![]() |
South Africa | lesiba rattle stick |
The lesiba, and gora or goura, are members of a class of "unbraced mouth-resonated bow[s]" with a flattened quill attached to a long string, stretched over a hard stick, acting as the main source of vibration | 423.121.12 | — |
Spain | guitar[12][132] |
Fretted stringed instrument, long-necked with a flat soundboard and back, and incurved sides | 321.322 | ![]() |
Sweden | drejelire[50][53] |
Hurdy-gurdy that uses a rosined wheel to create sound | 321.322-72 | ![]() |
Sweden | nyckelharpa[50][133] |
Bowed keyed fiddle | 321.322-71 | ![]() |
Swedish Estonia | talharpa[134] |
Bowed lyre with no fingerboard | 321.22-71 | ![]() |
Switzerland | alphorn[135][136] |
Long wooden conical trumpet, bent at the end, with turned boxwood mouthpieces, traditionally used by herdsmen | 423.121.12 | ![]() |
Trinidad and Tobago | steelpan[4][137][138] |
Barrel-shaped percussion instruments, tuned chromatically, originally made from discarded 55 gallon drums | 111.241.2 | ![]() |
Turkey | saz[139][140] bağlama, kopuz |
Fretted lute with a long neck, pear-shaped body, and three courses of seven steel strings | 321.321-6 | ![]() |
Turkmenistan | dutar[141] |
Plucked string instrument with two strings and a long neck, strummed or plucked | 321.322 | ![]() |
Tuva | igil[142] Horse-head fiddle |
Small fiddle | 321.322 | ![]() |
Tuva | khomus[143] |
Jaw harp, made from a reed attached to a frame, plucked | 121.221 | ![]() |
Tuva | morin khuur[142] Horse-head fiddle |
Large fiddle with a wooden sound box and two strings attached to tuning pegs in the neck | 321.322 | ![]() |
Ukraine | bandura[144] |
Diatonic, unfretted lute-like string instrument, traditionally carved from a single block of wood | 321.321 | ![]() |
United States | Appalachian dulcimer[145][146] dulcimer, mountain dulcimer, lap dulcimer, fretted dulcimer, dulcimore, et al. |
Fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic. | 321.312-5 | |
United States | banjo[147][148] |
Membrane-topped four or five string fretted instrument, plucked or strummed with fingers or a plectrum. Probably African American in origin. | 321.312-5 | ![]() |
Uzbekistan | doira[149] |
Round, flat drum with shakers made of metal inside and a horse-skin head | 211.311 + 112.113 |
![]() |
Uzbekistan | karnay[150][151] |
Long brass trumpet with a mouthpiece | 423.121.12 | |
Venezuela | cuatro[152][153][154] |
Guitar-like lute with four strings, usually strummed | 321.322 | ![]() |
Venezuela | harp, Venezuelan[154] |
Diatonic harp, with an exaggerated neck arch, similar to the Paraguayan harp | 322.211 | ![]() |
Vietnam | đàn bầu[155] |
321.22 | ![]() | |
Wales | crwth[155] |
Six-stringed instrument with a flat fingerboard, fretless | 321.22 | ![]() |
Wales | harp, triple[156][157][158] telyn |
Harp with no blades or levers, with three rows of strings, the outer two tuned in a diatonic scale and the inner one tuned to the extra semitones of the chromatic scale | 322.212.1 | ![]() |
Yugoslavia | gusle[159] |
Stringed instrument, round, typically with one string bound at the top of the neck with a tuning peg |
321.321-71 | ![]() |
Zimbabwe | mbira[160][161] thumb piano |
Plucked lamellophone, consisting of staggered keys attached to a board, with a halved calabash gourd as resonator | 122.12 | ![]() |
One of the most interesting articles is that by Lisbet Torp about invented traditions in creating a national instrument, such as the Highland bagpipe in Scotland, the kantele in Finland, the bouzouki in Greece etc. She takes the reader through a tour of Europe, in a journey through time and space, beginning in the British Isles at the end of the 18th century with the Irish harp and the Scottish highland bagpipe. She then points to the influence of intellectuals and nationalists in the nationwide promotion of selected musical instruments as a vehicle for nationalistic ideas. The conclusion is that Denmark never developed any national instrument, though, 'at the beginning of the 20th century, the prehistoric bronze lurs were treated as a national symbol.'
(The book) uses an appropriate approach for the first major work on Trinidad and Tobago's national instrument.
Afghans have a special feeling for the rubab, describing it as the 'lion' of instruments and their 'national instrument'.
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(Dino Saluzzi) is a master of Argentina's national instrument, the button accordion known as the bandoneon.[permanent dead link]
Another folk element is a reference to the guitar, considered a national instrument associated with the gauchos of the Pampas region.
It has not been a national instrument until quite recently, the previous range was primarily in the northern third of the continent.
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The aura and resonance of the continent the instrument carries means the didgeridoo will never lose its place as the instrument that best reflects the Aboriginals' 50,000 years of tradition and experience.
(T)he Azeri national instrument is a type of bagpipe called a balaban.
Notwithstanding the emergence of a strong nationalistic feeling among the Baloch population both in Iran and Pakistan, the existence of pahlawan (professional singers of verse narratives), and the love for suroz (a bowed instrument played as an accompaniment to narrative songs and considered to be the national instrument of the Baloch) among the educated classes, there seems to be no future for the oral tradition in Balochistan.
The dotara is the national instrument of Bangladesh.
Music performed on this wonderful Bashkir national instrument is understandable and dear to all.
Discover the sounds of the lesiba, the Basotho national instrument with its harsh, bird-like sounds.
The zither may be considered the national instrument of Bavaria
Among chordophones, the charango has become the Bolivian national instrument par excellence.
Born in Brazil, Murilo Tanouye began his musical pursuit by learning Jazz and Bossa Nova (sic) on the guitar, his country's national instrument.
Although this metamorphosis insured the emerging berimbau a higher social status as a Brazilian national instrument.
Endowed with cosmological and metaphysical significance and empowered to communicate the deepest feelings, the qin is the most prestigious of China's instruments.
As the most popular national instrument in China, zheng (also known as gu-zheng) is one of the eldest Chinese string instruments with a history of at least 2,500 years.
I note the irony of this transformation: the modernization of the pipa as a Chinese national instrument entailed reworking it to fit the musical standards and contexts of polyphonic Western music.
After all, the marimba is the "national instrument" of Costa Rica.
The island's "national" instrument, the lyra has become emblematic of the struggle that many Cretans experience in their attempt to retain a sense of a local identity.
The tamburica is a lute-like instrument similar to the turkish saz and is the national instrument of Croatia.
The tamburitza... is the national instrument of the Croatians.
The tres is the national instrument of Cuba, and at first glance you'd probably call it a guitar.
Gyil,... the grandmother of the keyboard family, is the national instrument of the Dagara and Lobi nations of Ghana in West Africa.
This family of pan flutes has many representatives: antara (Quechua) or siku (Aymara), chuli, sanka, malta (the most common variety of siku), toyo (bass siku), and rondador (Ecuador's national instrument, a chorded pan flute).
Although the harp always remained a national instrument, its popularity was later eclipsed by the lyre.
Mette Muller's initial essay on the folk musical instruments of Denmark and Scandinavia ("Folk - Folkelig - Folkelige musikinstrumenter i Danmark") circles around the central question of why Denmark did not develop a uniquely national instrument in the same way as Norway (hardingfele and langeleik), Finland (kantele), and Sweden (nyckelharpa and drejelire).
(T)he kantele is an essential part of the power of (the Kalevala and thus became), in the 19th century, the Finns' national instrument.
(Researchers) have run a long-term campaign to introduce the kantele, which has been branded the national instrument of Finland, into every school.
While in Sweden the hurdy-gurdy occupies the rank of a national instrument, like the kantele among the Finns, the Swedish country-population has not adopted either of these instruments, but has instead chosen the violin.
This proportion is an accurate reflection of the importance of the flute among the Fula; it is, in a sense, their national instrument.
The record also features the gaita... which Galicians consider their national instrument
Es ist eine unbedingte Notwendigkeit, dass der Deutsche zu seinen Liedern auch ein echt deutsches Begleitinstrument besitzt. Wie der Spanier seine Gitarre, der Italiener seine Mandoline, der Engländer das Banjo, der Russe die Balalaika usw. sein Nationalinstrument nennt, so sollte der Deutsche seine Laute, die Waldzither, welche schon von Dr. Martin Luther auf der Wartburg im Thüringer Walde (daher der Name Waldzither) gepflegt wurde, zu seinem Nationalinstrument machen. - Liederheft von C. H. Böhm (Hamburg, March 1919)
For the Greeks, it was the most important of wind instruments, a national instrument. It belonged to the entourage of the god Dionysus, god of fertility, wine, frenzy, ecstasy and rebirth.
(T)he marimba... has become Guatemala's national instrument.
(The marimba) is truly a national instrument, enjoyed as much by primitive Indian as by sophisticated urbanite.
(Hawaiian craftsmen) began to use local kou and koa wood (in the manufacture of the braguinha) and before long the (ukulele) became a national instrument.
(The cimbalom) is the one instrument which so deeply speaks to (the heart of the Hungarian people) which translates the melancholy of the deserts and which in every way expresses (the Hungarian) world of emotions.
India has an infinite variety of lutes, the vina, her national instrument, having a...
KSU students also enjoyed a performance with the Indonesian national instrument, the Angklung.
In Hebrew kinnor, also known as David's harp, is the national instrument of Israel.
During the 18th Century (sic), the mandolin became associated with particular Italian districts or regions, and became the national instrument.
It is clear that the word shofar was not used as the name of the Jewish national instrument until comparatively late.
(The dombra) has become the national instrument of Kazakhstan.
Much of Kenya's music is derivative of other Afropop forms, most obviously Congolese, but the singing, high-pitched guitar work, use of the national instrument, the nyatiti (a seven-stringed harp), and bottle percussion give it a unique, identifiable sound.
The "national instrument" of Laos is the khene.
Latvia's national instrument (is) the kokle... (which) is reasserting its place at the heart of contemporary Latvian culture.
Its revival was initiated (among Latvian-Americans in the United States) in the 1930s by Latvian folklorists, who claimed it to be their true national instrument.
Zerang ensorcelled the crowd, especially when he played hard-core rhythms and extended techniques on the Lebanese national percussion instrument, the darbuka (or debakeh).
A wooden stringed instrument, similar to the zither, is considered a "national" instrument for all three countries. The Estonian kannel, the Latvian kokle, and the Lithuanian kankle, though similar in design, have distinctive styles.
zither, national instrument of Madagascar, similar in sound to the kora
Eschewing all drums except timpani, the score "utilizes a rich assortment of pitched percussion instruments, with prominent use of two marimbas (the marimba being the national instrument of Mexico as well as an apt musical representation of skeletons)," according to the composer.
(The morin khuur) is the instrument most associated with Mongolian traditions and culture... (W)e hope this book will help foreigners learn to play the Morin Khuur and spread the word about Mongolia's national instrument throughout the world.
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The beginnings of vocal – instrumental music in Montenegro are neither extravagant nor mystical... the warm sound of fife (reed), patriotic singing of players of gusle (Montenegrin national instrument) or simply a song of the shepherdess in the mountain – were the first, but for Montenegrin music most significant melodic expression.
This highly decorative harp, formerly associated with the Buddhist dynasties that ruled Burma for centuries, is the national instrument of Myanmar.
The madal is the national instrument of Nepal.
The marimba, an instrument similar to a xylophone, is the national instrument.
The Hardanger fiddle is considered Norway's national instrument.
In Norway, the national instrument has come to be the Hardanger fiddle.
In Paraguay, (the harp) became the national instrument.
The distinctive Paraguayan harp... is featured as lead instrument in hundreds of ensembles in that country, where it is the national instrument.
(C)haracterized by a large soundbox with a rounded base, very light weight, closely spaced light tension strings (usually nylon), a relatively flat harmonic curve, and with the strings running up through the centre of the neck, which are tuned with gear-style tuners (like a guitar). Almost all harps of this style are played with the fingernails, in very rhythmically intricate music. This is the national instrument of Paraguay, and is commonly found throughout South America, Central America, and in parts of Mexico
These wooden boxes were soon developed into the cajon, the large wooden box that today is the national instrument of Peru.
Native music consists primarily of stringed instruments reminiscent of mandolins and Spanish guitars, including the charanga—Peru's national instrument.
A respected rondalla maestro is pushing for the adoption of the banduria as the country's national musical instrument to stimulate interest in its study and cultivation.
These flutes are found in other regions but particularly in Polynesia where the nose flute is the "national" instrument.
His book, The Portuguese Guitar, Lisbon 1999, is the first monograph on this national instrument's origins and historical evolution, iconography, organological study and repertoire.
(F)irst and foremost, the cuatro is Puerto Rico's national instrument.
The tibiae (is) an instrument that may be characterized as the national instrument of the Romans.
In Russia, the accordion is practically the national instrument.
(I)n the Ryukyus... the sanshin – the Ryukyuan 'national instrument' and direct ancestor of the shamisen – will be favoured.
Its place is now occupied by the accordion which has become the foremost national instrument since its introduction.
Indigenous music performed on the frula – a Serbian national instrument
The cartoon shows a minuscule Cosic sitting on Milosevic's lap, while the latter is playing the gusle, the Serbian national instrument.[permanent dead link]
van Gasparovič presented Vaira Vike-Freiberga with the Slovakian national instrument fujara that has been included in the UNESCO List of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.
Since the 1970s there has been an unprecedented surge of interest in Slovenian music (especially the accordion as the national instrument), language, genealogy, history, culture, customs, folklore, and other aspects of Slovenian heritage.[permanent dead link]
The nyckelharpa is considered Sweden's national instrument.
The alphorn is considered Switzerland's national instrument.
In 1827 the musicologist Joseph Fétis pronounced the alphorn to be the Swiss national instrument.
(In Trinidad and Tobago), the steel pan was invented and remains the national instrument.
Considered the national instrument of Turkey.
There was great admiration for his virtuosity on their national instrument
Tiuliush also plays the morinhuur and the igil, daddy and baby versions of the Tuvans' national instrument, the horse-headed fiddle, held like a small cello and with two strings, each comprising up to 130 hairs from a horse's tail.
The national instrument of Tuva, the khomuz (jaw harp), also depends on a drone and virtuosically shaped overtones, as a solo piece demonstrated on Thursday night.
The bandura will always be known as Ukraine's national instrument.
Abbos Kasimov, the premier percussionist from Uzbekistan, is playing his national instrument, the doira.
the magic sound of karnay (the Uzbek national music instrument)[permanent dead link]
The cuatro has a very dry sound and is often strummed in syncopation with the rhythm of many musical forms originating from Colombia and Venezuela. The cuatro is also considered the "national instrument" of these two countries.
This small, four-stringed, guitar-like lute, the national instrument of Venezuela...
The cuatro rivals the harp as the national instrument
Much is said... about Welsh airs and the national instrument, the harp
A people which could cherish the triple harp so long after the rest of the world had dismissed it as obsolete must have more than mere tradition to guide its composers to the national instrument
Today the triple harp is the national instrument of Wales
The instrument is, in slightly varying forms, several centuries old and is found in many parts of Africa, but only in Zimbabwe has it risen to become something of a national instrument
The mbira is inextricably associated with Zimbabwean traditional music, and is truly the national instrument.
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