Traditional Musical Instruments Around the World

Most musical traditions have an instrument you could pick out from across a room: the big gourd of a kora, the carved horse head of a Mongolian fiddle, the hammered bowl of a steelpan. This gallery gives each one a clear photo, played wherever possible, with a caption on what it is made of, how it makes its sound and the music it belongs to. The test for a place is an instrument that anchors a living tradition and looks like nothing else. Electric guitars and synthesizers have galleries of their own, so they are left out here.