Janissary Band in Italy

Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching band in the world. Though they are often known by the Persian-derived word mahtar (; mehter in Ottoman Turkish) in the West, that word, properly speaking, refers only to a single musician in the band. In Ottoman, the band was generally known as mehterân (, from the Persian plural mahtar?n), though those bands used in the retinue of a vizier or prince were generally known as mehterhane (, meaning roughly, "a gathering of mehters", from Persian "house of the mahtar"). In modern Turkish, the band as a whole is often termed mehter bölü?ü ("mehter company [troop]"), mehter tak?m? ("mehter platoon"). In the West, the band's music is also often called Janissary music because the janissaries formed the core of the bands.