TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) -- The present music in Kermanshah, which plays an important role in Iranian music and identity, derives from ancient Arian cultural traditions.

Kermanshah is the cradle of Kurdish music. Dating back to thousands of years it has been transferred from one generation to another by music pioneers. The Kurdish museum is also part of the local culture, infused with the inhabitants’ life and spirit.

Studies show that over the previous centuries Kurdish music was originally based on epic. The oldest Kurdish musicians and reciters, many illiterate, changed the heroic epic stories into poems and compositions and then recited them to oboes and drums.

Later, Kurdish music picked up the melodies played in private ceremonies, and now it is regarded as the most cheerful and epic type of music in the country.

The douzaleh, one of the Iranian wind-instruments, is extensively played at Kurdish weddings and mourning ceremonies, as is the oboe which is an important instrument of this region.

Another common wind-instrument in Kermanshah is the shamshal. Like a flute, it is made of tube-shaped metal with a hole that the musician blows through while holding the tube to one side of his face.

Just as important is the dayereh. A small circular Iranian drum, hung with several pairs of metal jingles, it is made of soft wood covered with the tight skin of a goat or sheep.

The stringed lute is similar to the guitar. With its round back, flat top and long neck strummed with the figures, it is more common in Kermanshah’s cities of Gouran and Sahneh.

The tonbak, daf and drum are other traditional musical instruments common in Kermanshah. SN/DFM/SRM/IS END MNA