Middle Eastern music also makes use of the violin, which is European in origin. The violin was adopted into Middle Eastern music in the 19th century, and it is able to produce non-Western scales that include quarter-tones because it is fretless. Percussion. Percussion instruments play a very important role in Middle Eastern music.

The Middle East incorporates the Fertile Crescent, including Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia) where wheat was first cultivated, followed by rye, barley, lentils, beans, pistachios, figs, pomegranates, dates and other regional staples. The domestication of sheep, goats and cattle took place in the region as well. Fermentation was also discovered there, in order to …