Tar (Azerbaijani Long-Necked Lute)
The Azerbaijani tar is a long-necked plucked lute with a deep figure-of-eight body, a lambskin soundboard and three courses of steel strings, played with a small plectrum held between the fingers. Master-builders hollow the body from mulberry wood, and the instrument's design was refined in the nineteenth century, when the tar became the leading solo and ensemble instrument of Azerbaijani music. It leads the mugham trio of tar, kamancha and frame drum that performs the classical modal suites of Azerbaijani tradition, and it accompanies ashiq narrative song as well. In 2012 UNESCO inscribed the