The term Tanbur[a] can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia.

Nowadays the term tanbur (or tambur) is applied to a variety of distinct and related long-necked lutes used in art and folk traditions.

These instruments are used in the traditional music of Iran, Iraq, India, Armenia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan (especially Avar community), Pakistan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

[1] The name spread widely, eventually taking in Long-necked string instruments used in Central Asian music such as the Dombura and the classical Turkish tambur as well as the Kurdish tanbur.

[1][7] Until the early twentieth century, the names chambar and jumbush were applied to instruments in northern Iraq.

Kermanshahan tanburs are more famous and accepted and are specially designed in Kermanshah's Goran Region and Sahneh.

[5] The tanbur is currently the musical instrument used in Ahl-e Haqq (Yarsani) rituals, and practitioners venerate tembûrs as sacred objects.