CULTURE INSTRUMENTS

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".[1] Governments do not
generally officially recognize national instruments; the only exceptions are the Paraguayan harp,[2] the
Japanese koto[3] and the Trinidadian steelpan.[4]

This list compiles instruments that have been alleged to be a national instrument by any of a variety of
sources, and an instrument's presence on the list does not indicate that its status as a national
instrument is indisputable, only that its status has been credibly argued. Each instrument on this list has
a Hornbostel-Sachs number immediately below it. This number indicates the instrument's classification
within the Hornbostel-Sachs system (H-S), which organizes instruments numerically based on the
manner in which they produce sound.[5]

Images and recordings are supplied where available; note that there are often variations within a
national musical tradition, and thus the images and recordings may not be accurate in depicting the
entire spectrum of the given nation's music, and that some images and recordings may be taken from a
region outside the core of the national instrument's home when such distinctions have little relevance
to the information present in the image and recordings. A number of countries have more than one
instrument listed, each having been described as a national instrument, not usually by the same source;
neither the presence of multiple entries for one nation, nor for multiple nations for one instrument, on
this list is reflective of active dispute in any instance. Alternative names and spellings are given. These
mostly come from alternative spellings within English or alternative methods of transliterating from a
foreign language to English, such as the Chinese yangqin, also transliterated yang ch'in and yang qin.
Others reflect regions or subcultures within a given nation, such as the Australian didgeridoo which is or
has been called didjeridu, yidaki, yiraki, magu, kanbi and ihambilbilg in various Australian Aboriginal
languages. All non-English words are italicized.
Organizational culture is widely considered to be one of the most significant factors in reforming and
modernizing public administration and service delivery. This article documents the findings of a
literature review of existing qualitative and quantitative instruments for the exploration of
organizational culture. Seventy instruments are identified, of which 48 could be submitted to
psychometric assessment. The majority of these are at a preliminary stage of development. The study's
conclusion is that there is no ideal instrument for cultural exploration. The degree to which any measure
is seen as “fit for purpose” depends on the particular reason for which it is to be used and the context
within which it is to be applied.