[1] The name is first mentioned in the biblical book of Daniel, used in the Middle Ages to the Persian military bands and in the Indian Mughal Empire to the representative orchestra naqqāra-khāna and which is still used by this name in ceremonial music in Central Asia and northern India.

Since the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., trumpets known in both Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were used in both regions as signaling instruments in ceremonies, warfare and work assignments.

The kernei is a Kyrgyz wind musical instrument, which as well as the surnai (Persian: سرنای) was not modernised for ensembles or orchestras and exists in traditional form.

The similarity between the jez kernei and the Uzbek and Uighur karnai is accounted by the territorial nearness of South Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Some time in the past the kernei's applied function was restricted by notification of important events, but today it is typically used for national holidays.