The tsambouna is an instrument of the askalo family, one of the oldest types of instruments.
Popular mainly in island Greece and the Greeks of Pontos also known by other names such as, for example, aggeion (Pontos), ascomandoura (Crete), sambouna (Mykonos).
An instrument suitable for dancing – due to its intensity and sharpness – it was once particularly popular for open-air feasts, either alone or accompanied by some percussion (tubi in the Cyclades, aggeion in Pontus) or, more rarely, by other instruments (lyre and lute in Karpathos ).