The well-known dictionary of the Suvaro-Bulgar-Chuvash language by N.I. Ashmarin contains more than 150 musical terms, proving the existence of a deep and ancient musical foundation.
Suvaro-Bulgar-Chuvash musical instruments were remarkably diverse and unique in number, exceeding 50 distinct types.
Nearly all 18th–19th century ethnographic researchers noted the widespread use of musical instruments among the Suvaro-Bulgar-Chuvash: G.F. Miller, P.S. Pallas, N.A. Fuks, V.A. Sboev, A.F. Rittikh, V. Nikolsky, V.D. Dmitriev, and others.
Later, major contributions to the study of Suvaro-Bulgar-Chuvash music and instruments were made by V.A. Moshkov, V.M. Krivonosov, S.M. Mikhailov, F.P. Pavlov, Yu.A. Ilyukhin, A.I. Ivanov-Yekhvet, M.G. Kondratyev, V.S. Chernov, N.A. Fomiryakov, A.A. Osipov, and others.
Researchers observed that Suvaro-Bulgar-Chuvash children received musical education from an early age, absorbing the full richness of folk music.
Due to particular historical conditions, ancient musical traditions developed for centuries within a relatively closed cultural environment, avoiding outside influence. Musical art was preserved and refined in close connection with folk traditions and rituals. The academic community has established that the most ancient ancestors of this people — the Subarians — inhabited many regions of Eurasia beginning in the 4th millennium BCE: Subartu in the Fertile Crescent region of Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea region, Central Asia, the Altai, the Volga region, the Balkan Peninsula, and beyond.
Over many centuries they created several state formations: Subartu in Western Asia, Subeisi in the Altai, Great Bulgaria, Danube Bulgaria, the Suvar Kingdom, the Khazar state in the Caucasus, and from the late 7th century Volga Bulgaria on the territory of present-day Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, the republics of Tatarstan and Chuvashia, parts of Mari El, Udmurtia, Mordovia, Bashkortostan, and areas of the Penza and Murom regions.
Through repeated migrations of the Suvaro-Bulgars, their musical instruments spread among many Eurasian peoples. Their musical culture undoubtedly influenced Turkic peoples as well as other neighboring cultures.