Similar instruments occur in ancient Chinese music, perhaps diffused from the same Central Asian (Turkic) sources.

It was abandoned by the British in the mid-19th century but survives today, in an altered form, in Germany[8] and in the Netherlands, plus in two military bands in France (the French Foreign Legion and the 1st Spahi Regiment).

It is also found in the military bands of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil (examples are in the Brazilian Marine Pipes, Drum and Bugle Corps and the Band of the 1st Guards Cavalry Regiment "Independence Dragoons").

Its presence in the bands of Chile, Brazil and Bolivia is due to the Prussian military influences which arrived in these countries during the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

A painting by Martin Boneo and a news clipping from 1899 show an instrument held on a long pole, with horsetails, and either a pointed top like a Chinese hat, or a crescent.

The instrument has also been known in Java under the names genta (Hindu-Javanese), klinting, byong or Kembang delima (pomegranate blossom), and in Bali as gentorag.

The Javanese instruments lack the crescent or hat, but have "a central wooden spindle" with the bells suspended at different levels on crosses of wood or metal.