Maghreb rebab

The Maghreb rebab or Maghrebi rebab is a bowed lute now played mainly in Northern Africa. It fits within the wider rebab traditions of the Arab world, but also branched into European musical tradition in Spain, Sicily, and the Holy Roman Empire. In the late Middle Ages, the European rebec developed from this instrument (and from the related Byzantine lyra). The Maghreb rebab was described by a musicologist as the "predominant" rebab of North Africa, although the instrument was in decline with younger generations when that was published in 1984.

The name rebáb (rabáb, rabába, rubáb, Arabic ربابة) refers to a group of significantly different stringed instruments, plucked or bowed lutes in regions under the influence of Islam. In North-West Africa and Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, a short-necked lute played with a bow was developed. It survives today as part of Andalusi classical music.