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The Simsimiyya (Arabic: سمسمية‎) is a traditional plucked lyre used in Egypt and Yemen. In Egypt it is traditionally used to accompany a dance called bambutiyya, as well as among the musicians called suhbagiyya, in the cities of Port Said and Ismailiyya
Rebab (Arabic الرباب or رباب; also rebap, rabab, rebeb, rababah, or al-rababa) is a string instrument which originated in what is now known as Afghanistan,[citation needed] no later than the 8th century, and was spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and the Far East. The bowed variety often has a spike at the bottom to rest on the ground, and is thus called a spike fiddle in certain areas. Rebabs Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, TurkeyThe rebab is considered part of the lute family (oud in Arabic). Plucked versions like the kabuli rebab (sometimes referred to as the robab or rubab) are plucked like the lute, but other versions are played with a bow. The closest to it is the gusle, an instrument that is still widely used in the Balkans. It is almost certainly the direct ancestor of the European violin, via the Medieval rebec, as the Rebab is a key instrument of Arabo-Andalusian music. It is used in a wide variety of musical ensembles and genres, corresponding with its wide distribution, and is built and played somewhat differently in different areas. The Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911), in his lexicographical discussion of instruments, cited the use of the term lūrā as typical for the Byzantines and the term of rabāb by the. Arabs, even when refering to the same instruments.