ran’s daff (also spelled daf) is one of the oldest frame drums still in active use, with depictions stretching back to the pre-Islamic Elamite era. Its modern identity is inseparable from Kurdish Sufi practice — long zikr ceremonies where rows of players build hypnotic waves of rhythm using both struck tones and a rapid finger-snap technique against the instrument’s rings. The daff only entered Persian classical and popular music more recently, largely through players like Bijan Kamkar in the 1970s and ’80s. See The Daff page below for more on construction and playing technique.