Kurdish tanbur

Kurdish tanbur (Kurdish: tembûr ته‌مبوور‎) or tanbour (Persian: تنبور‎‎), a fretted string instrument, is an initial and main form of the tanbūr instrument family, original of and unique to the Kurdish people. It is highly associated with the Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq) religion in Kurdish areas and in the Lorestān provinces of Iran. It is one of the few musical instruments used in Ahl-e Haqq rituals, and practitioners venerate the tembûr as a sacred object. Another popular percussion instrument used together with the tembur in Yarsan spirituality is the Kurdish daf.

Nowadays tembur is played all over Iran, but Kurdish tembur is mainly designed and has been for centuries in the Hawraman region in the provinces of Kermanshah Province, Kurdistan Province and Lorestan. The more traditional and accepted temburs originate from the cities of Kermanshah, Sahneh and Gahvareh. Tembur is locally called tamur, tamureh, tamyarah or tamyorah (تَمیُرَه ، تَمیرَه ، تموره, تمور) there. The Kermanshah tembur should not be confused with saz also called tembûr in Kurmancî Kurdish.