Musical Instruments of Nagaland are indigenous which are made from simple things like Bamboo. Nagaland is known for its love for music. They however generate fabulous tunes and add to the melody of Naga music. There are several rhythmic instruments that aptly accompany the Nagaland music. Each tribe has unique traditional instruments influenced by their customs and materials available.

The musical instruments extensively used by the people are bamboo mouth organs, cup violins, bamboo flutes, trumpets, drums made of cattle skin, and log drums. Some of the important musical instruments used in Naga’s folk music are as follows:

Asem - A drum with animal skin masked upon carved wood.

Jemji - This is a type of horn made using Mithun horn.

Tati - Tati is a single stringed traditional musical instrument of Nagaland. It is used by the Angami Nagas and Chakesang Nagas. This string instrument is made of a dried caved-out Bottle Gourd covered with thin film and attached to one end of a pole. A string is tied between the two ends of the pole.

Bamboo Flute - This flute is one of the simplest instruments made of thin bamboo. It produces several tunes.

Malen - Another type of musical instrument similar to the bamboo flute is called ‘Malen’ in Ao dialect, which is made out of paddy plant stump.

Bamboo Trumpet - The trumpet is mostly used by the herd’s men to scare away wild animals from the cattle.

Bamboo Mouth Organ - The bamboo mouth organ is one of the oldest traditional musical instruments used by the Naga tribes. It is played mostly inside the dormitory Zuki; where young girls sleep. This mouth organ is also called the ‘Midnight Musical Instrument’.

Cup Violin - This is one of the musical instruments popularly used by the Ao tribes.

Petu - Petu is a common musical string instrument played by the Nagas. The Angamis and Chakhesangs are particularly fond of this instrument.

Theku - Another popular string instrument is Theku. In some tribes, only boys are allowed to play the Theku, the girls are debarred lest they seduce the young boys.