Bendir, 14", with Snare

There is a large family of frame drums that has been in existence since pre-historic times. They are known from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and have spread to Southern and Eastern Europe, Africa, India and China. Although such simple instruments could easily have been developed independently, it is interesting that many names applied to them are similar, from Portugal to China. Many of the name variations are simply the result of transliteration from the Arabic names. There are both two-headed frame drums and one-headed ones, some of which are generally placed in the family of tambourines when they include jingles. Several of the names are used for both two-headed frame drums and tambourines in different geographical areas.