Baluchi music in Balochistan

Folk music has always played a great role in Baluchi traditions. Baluchi music belong to the same branch of Iranian music performed by many other Iranian peoples including Persians, Kurds,Lurs, Tajiks and others. Traditions like the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation by singing lullabies to children and praising warriors also have a significant role in Baluchi music traditions. The fact that both men and women participate in folk music reflects on the pre-Islamic significance of folk music in Baluchi culture. Many years of invasions, wars and later adopted religious values have prevented Balouchi music from prevailing further in the 21st century. However, a Swedish folk band, Golbang and Padik with the lead singer Rostam Mirlashari originally fromZahedan & Lashar in Balochistan, has made progress in introducing Balouchi folk music to the Western world. The most commonly used instruments in Balouchi folk music are tanbur, long-necked lutes. Lutes have been present in Mesopotamia since the Akkadian era, or the third millennium BCE. The dohol, a large cylindrical drum with two skin heads, is the principal accompaniment for the surna, an ancient Iranian woodwind instrument that dates back to the Achaemenid Dynasty (550-330 BCE). The ney is also commonly played, using single or double flutes. The suroz, a Baluchi folk violin, is also commonly played. Other Baluchi musical instruments include the tar and the saz. Baluchi music is also influenced by Sindhi folk.