ney
An end-blown reed flute central to Middle Eastern, Turkish, and Sufi devotional music.
In Depth
The ney is one of the oldest musical instruments still in use, with examples dating back 5,000 years. Made from a single piece of cane with finger holes and no mouthpiece mechanism, it requires a specialised embouchure where the player blows across the open end. The ney's breathy, haunting tone is considered the closest instrument to the human voice. In Sufi philosophy, the ney symbolises the soul's longing to return to its divine source.
The 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi opens his masterwork, the Masnavi, with the words Listen to the ney, how it tells its tale of separation, making the instrument a metaphor for spiritual longing.