Tribal Fusion Dance

More Dulcimer History

... The ancient origins of the dulcimer are in the Near East, where instruments of this type have been played for nearly 5000 years. It was certainly a fully-fledged instrument a thousand years ago in Arabia and Byzantium. In fact carvings of similar instruments that were played using small wooden beaters, date back to 1500 BC.

By way of the old trading routes, the instrument travelled from the Near East to both the east and west, probably around 900 AD. Arabs took it to Spain where a dulcimer-like instrument is depicted on a cathedral relief from 1184 AD. Throughout the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the dulcimer remained a popular instrument in both eastern and western Europe. ...