As part of the generic "lute" family, there are two basic types of rebab: wooden fiddles with pear-shaped or elongated bodies, and wooden fiddles, named for the extension or spike on the bottom of the instrument on which it stands when played. The word “rebab” is an Arabic term that can be translated as “bowed string instrument”. Dating back at least to the 8th century, the rebab has been closely associated with Islamic culture and is thought to be the earliest ancestor of the contemporary violin.
While its roots are probably in Arabia or Persia, the rebab's influence has reached as far east as Indonesia and west to regions of Europe and Africa. Its diffusion is closely tied to the growth of the Islamic world and the development of extensive trade routes after the 10th century.
