This percussion instrument which was very popular all over Galicia at one time is now only to be found in very few parts of the region.

The instrument goes back many thousands of years, as it was played in Egypt and Asia Minor and was mentioned in the Bible on several occasions as 'timpano', the name by which it was also known in Latin. It is widely accepted that the Galician name comes from the Latin 'pandorius'.

References often confuse the square variety (pandeiro) and the round one (pandeira) when old texts are used in research, as both instruments have been referred to by the same word at different periods of time and parts of the world.