karnay

The karnay or kerana is a metal natural trumpet. The name is first mentioned in the biblical book of Daniel, used in the Middle Ages to the Persian military bands and in the Indian Mughal Empire to the representative orchestra naqqāra-khāna and which is still used by this name in ceremonial music in Central Asia and northern India.

Since the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., trumpets known in both Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt were used in both regions as signaling instruments in ceremonies, warfare and work assignments. They could only produce one or two notes, but could send messages using patterns of rhythm. Karnā derives from Aramaic qarnāʾ, Hebrew qeren and Akkadian qarnu. In addition to the Arabic word būq for brass instruments in general (horns and trumpets), in medieval Arabic texts nafīr predominantly referred to a slender, cylindrical, shrill-sounding metal trumpet, būq a slightly shorter, conical trumpet and karnā a conical, sometimes S-shaped trumpet up to two meters long. The trumpet types nafīr and karnā were used in Iran, together with various drums and other percussion instruments, in the naqqāra-khāna until the early 20th century. Today the karnā in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is a long, mostly cylindrical metal trumpet, and in northern India it is a straight, tapered metal trumpet that can be long and thin or short and wide.