Ney

One of the oldest examples of the flute is the Ney; an end blown flute that features prominently in Persian, Turkish, and Arabic music being found in Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and parts of north-western India. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The kaval belongs to the same family but it is thicker and shorter than the ney. The ney is a very ancient instrument with depictions of musicians playing them in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids with actual examples of ney being found in Ur. This means that the ney has been played continuously for some 5,000 years and make it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use. The ney consists of a piece of hollow cane or reed with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole. Ney is an old Persian word for reed, however, modern neys are often made of metal or plastic tubing instead. A highly skilled ney player can reach more than three octaves.