List of national instruments (music)

This list contains musical instruments of symbolic or cultural importance within a nation, state, ethnicity, tribe or other group of people. In some cases, national instruments remain in wide use within the nation (such as the Puerto Rican cuatro), but in others, their importance is primarily symbolic (such as the Welsh triple harp). Danish ethnologist Lisbet Torp has concluded that some national instrument traditions, such as the Finnish kantele, are invented, pointing to the "influence of intellectuals and nationalists in the nationwide promotion of selected musical instruments as a vehicle for nationalistic ideas". Governments do not generally officially recognize national instruments; the only exceptions are the Paraguayan harp, the Japanese koto and the Trinidadian steelpan.

List of national instruments (music)

This list contains musical instruments of symbolic or cultural importance within a nation, state, ethnicity, tribe or other group of people. In some cases, national instruments remain in wide use within the nation (such as the Puerto Rican cuatro), but in others, their importance is primarily symbolic (such as the Welsh triple harp). Danish ethnologist Lisbet Torp has concluded that some national instrument traditions, such as the Finnish kantele, are invented, pointing to the "influence of intellectuals and nationalists in the nationwide promotion of selected musical instruments as a vehicle for nationalistic ideas". Governments do not generally officially recognize national instruments; the only exceptions are the Paraguayan harp, the Japanese koto and the Trinidadian steelpan.