Left: NMM 1426.  Double-reed woodwind (sorna), Iran, ca. 1950. Stained fruit-wood body with seven fingerholes, brass pirouette, and double reed formed from a flattened cylinder of grass. Played in villages for weddings, in cities from towers at sundown and for religious dramas, and by wandering minstrels. Overall length with reed: 347 mm; diameter of bell: 64 mm. Sent by donor's sister, Eleanor Engeman McNair, missionary in Iran, 1949-1954. Gift of Tom Engeman, Sibley, Iowa, 1976.

Right: NMM 1293.  Double-reed woodwind (algaita), Nigeria or savannah area of western Africa, ca. 1925. Three-part (cylindrical/conical) wood body covered with leather. Four finger holes, typical of the instrument in Nigeria, where the player presses his lips against the disc and uses his cheeks as an air reservoir, so that the instrument can be blown continuously. Overall length: 465 mm; diameter of bell: 54 mm. Ex coll.: Phillip Bate, London. Arne B. Larson Collection, 1979.