Turkey’s def (also spelled tef) is closely related in construction to the Persian daf — a frame drum used across both folk dance music and the devotional practice of Alevi-Bektashi communities, whose central religious gathering, the cem, features ritual turning dances called semah. (The def itself plays a supporting role in this music; the primary instrument of Alevi devotional song is the bağlama, a long-necked lute.) The semah tradition was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010. See the Def page below.