The Tombak
The tombak is the main percussion instrument played in Persian art music.The tombak is a drum made of a hollowed-out walnut or mulberry bush trunk with à goat skin stretched across the top.
Origin of the word tombak : tombak comes from sevral roots ; the first is related to the playing technique, the two syllables "tom" and "bak" being the onomatopea of the two main sounds made by the instrument . 
The low note when the center of the skin is struck and the high note when the edge of the instrument is struck. the word appears in old poetry Persian, at the XII century, in the poems of Nezâmi:
 
 
 
 
 
Etymologically, the word tombak comes from khombak. khombak means the "small khom", and khom is a terra cotta container, an earthenware jar for water, vinegar or wine. The instrument resembling a khom covered with skin quite naturally took the name of khombak, it exists always terra cotta tombaks maded like the tombaks of zurkhâné. Later, the word khombak became tombak, "KH" being moulted in "T", as it often arrives in the Persian language .
The tombak has become an expressive instrument with which musicians can make a show of technical virtuosity thanks to the development of rolls and ornamentations, a wide palette of tones in a reduced volume, and inumreable possibilities in striking techniques which call for incredible flexibility of the wrist. the musicians plays the instrument while sitting on his heals.
Very appreciated by the dervishes, the Daf is a drum on framework of which the use extends from the Middle East in the Central Asia. In addition to its size, it is different from the closest instruments, by metal chains of rings suspended within the framework.
The Daf is so to speak emblème of the dervishes. Formerly named dayré (literally: circle), it symbolically suggests the Divine one by its roundness. God is perceived like a hub generating the world in his rotation. Creation similar to a cycle, finds its evocation by the circle. The Being is with the image of the circumference; the gasoline which animates it resident similar to his center.
 
The rhythm and the tempo of the Daf regulate the course of the meetings at the time of the meetings of dervishes. This way, its presence remains more fundamental than the song.
The Daf held with the vertical, the rings are entrechoquent with each percussion, delivering a its rich person in metal vibrations. Held the rings obliquely rub on the skin, and amplify grondement. The Daf not struck produces a bearing by simple friction of the rings on the skin. Conversely, a jolt ondoyante of the instrument, at the time of striking, accentuates the feeling of undertow. These diversities of employment suggest all the sound range of the Daf, and its pallet of expression between intonations selected, and the flown away full ones and striking down.
 
From the family of the drums on the dayereh framework current one is different from the Daf by its smaller size.It is still characterized by rings which can have only very slightly contact with the skin of the drum, however it is built with same materials. Practised in Iran (particularly in Khôrassan and Azerbaïdjan), and almost in all the Central Asia, it remains among the privileged instruments of the troubadours (Ashiq-s).
 
Copper cymbalettes, played per pairs fixed on the inch and the major one of each hand.
Mainly employed to stress the dance, one finds them in particular present in the miniatures Persians on figurines dancers of the beginning thecentury, and in the past on low-reliefs.Their existence seems to go back to immemorialtimes.
This instrument is a large tombak formed in pottery rather than wood. It is slightly conical in form and is played in zurkhâneh, the traditional persian gymnasium where orchestrated rythmic exercises and mystical peotry are combined to provide a transcendence experience.
The Daf
The Dayere
Zang-e Sarangoshti
Tombak-e Zurkhane
Dohol
A large cylindrical double-ended drum, the dohol is played with two special drumsticks. One is a thick wooden one, bowed close to the end, called Changaal, and the other one, called Deyrak, is a much thinner one.
 
Senj
This is a special type of large diameter brass cymbals, played by striking a pair together.
 
Zang
Bell, a much smaller version of the European cowbell, it rings  at higher notes.
 
Zanguleh
This is a small spherical bell, put on the neck of the heard in villages and at the same time used around the ankle and the wrist in folk dances, especially in India and Central Iran.
 
Ayineh’pil
This may be called a Persian “Gong”. It is a large metallic drum of ancient origins.