A Bedouin man relaxes while playing the rababa. The rababa in general is considered 'the mother of all the string instruments' in the whole world. The first scientific evidence of string instruments using a bow was made by the Arab scholar and philosopher, Abu Nasr Mohammed bin Tarkhan al-Farabi who died in Damascus in 950 AD. It is used in Arab countries in different sizes and forms, as well as with different numbers of strings. There can be one, two and four-string versions of the rababa.