Bards were professional poets of ancient and medieval Europe, who were paid
by a nobleman or monarch to sing traditional stories and compose and perform new
stories, usually to the accompaniment of a lute or harp.
Minstrels were itinerant European bards who performed songs and recited poems
about distant places and real or fictional historical events.
Troubadours were composers and performers of lyric poetry in the Occitan area
of France during the High Middle Ages (ca. 1100–1350 A.D.).
Ashiks are
mystic troubadours or traveling bards of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia
and Iran, who sing and play the "saz," a type of lute. (Play
Video)
