The bağlama (Turkish: bağlama, from bağlamak, "to tie", pronounced [baːɫaˈma]) is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia It is sometimes referred to as the saz (from the Persian ساز‎, meaning a kit or set), it is also sometimes referred to as the "cura", although the term "saz" actually refers to a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Iranian music, Azeri music, Kurdish music, Assyrian music, Armenian music, and in parts of Syria, Iraq and the Balkan countries.Instruments resembling today's bağlama have been found in archaeological excavations of Sumerian and Hittite mounds in Anatolia dating before Common Era, and in ancient Greek works.