In northern part of Chitral, there are Shia Ismaili communities and here the spiritual leaders play an instrument called gharba and sing spiritual songs.
The song is not in Khowar but seems to be in some Persian dialect The melody is monotonous and all are similar.
The gharba only keeps the rhythm and do not play the melody.


Gharba is a short necked lute with 5 strings and 1 resonant string. It is tuned C-C-C-C-F-F. Plectrum is used. Sometimes this instrument is called rebab. Same instrument are also used in Hunza (charda) by religious leaders of the Shia Ismaili communities.