Santur Explained

Santur
Background:String
Classification:Stringed, Struck
Related:Hammered dulcimer

The santur (also santūr, santour, santoor) (Persian: سنتور), is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.[1] [2]

History

Image Capt:The archetype of the instrument carried horizontally and struck with two sticks, found in iconographical documents in ancient Babylon (1600-911 BCE) and Neo-Assyria (911-612 BCE).
Background:string
Classification:Struck
Related:Qanun

The santur was invented and developed in the area of Iran. "The earliest sign of it comes from Assyrian and Babylonian stone carvings (669 B.C.); it shows the instrument being played while hanging from the player's neck" (35). This instrument was traded and traveled to different parts of the Middle East. Musicians modified the original design over the centuries, yielding a wide array of musical scales and tunings. The original santur was likely made with wood and stone and strung with goat intestines. According to Habib Hasan Touma, the Babylonian santur was the ancestor of the harp, the yangqin, the harpsichord, the qanun, the cimbalom, and the hammered dulcimers.[3]

Name

The name 'santur' may come from Persian sanṭīr, a borrowing of the Greek ψαλτήριον 'psalterion'.[4] The Biblical Aramaic form psantērīn is found in the Book of Daniel 3:5.

Description

The oval-shaped mezrabs (mallets) are feather-weight and are held between the thumb, index, and middle fingers. A typical Persian santur has two sets of nine bridges, providing a range of approximately three diatonic octaves. The mezrabs are made out of wood with tips that may or may not be wrapped with cotton or felt.

The right-hand strings are made of brass or copper, while the left-hand strings are made of steel.A total of 18 bridges divide the santur into three positions. Over each bridge cross four strings tuned in unison, spanning horizontally across the right and left side of the instrument. There are three sections of nine pitches: each for the bass, middle, and higher octave called behind the left bridges comprising 27 tones altogether. The top "F" note is repeated twice, creating a total of 25 separate tones on the santur. The Persian santur is primarily tuned to a variety of different diatonic scales utilizing 1/4 tones which are designated into 12 modes (dastgahs) of Persian classical music. These 12 Dastgahs are the repertory of Persian classical music known as the Radif.[5]

Derivations

Similar musical instruments have been present since medieval times all over the world, including Armenia, China, Greece, India, etc. The Indian santoor is wider, more rectangular and has more strings. Its corresponding mallets are also held differently and played with a different technique. The eastern European version of the santur called the cimbalom, which is much larger and chromatic, is used to accompany Hungarian folk music, Eastern European Jewish music, and Slavic music, as well as Romani music.[6]

Iraqi santur

The Iraqi santur (also santour, santoor) (Arabic: سنطور) is a hammered dulcimer of Mesopotamian origin.[2] It is a trapezoid box zither with a walnut body and 92 steel (or bronze) strings. The strings, tuned to the same pitch in groups of four, are struck with two wooden mallets called "midhrab". The tuning of these 23 sets of strings extends from the lower yakah (G) up to jawab jawab husayni (A). The bridges are called dama ("chessmen" in Iraqi Arabic) because they look like pawns. It is native to Iraq, Syria, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Greece (the Aegean coasts) and Azerbaijan.

It and the joza are the main instruments used in the classical Iraqi Maqam tradition.[7] The instrument was brought to Europe by the Arabs through North Africa and Spain during the Middle Ages and also to China where it was referred to as the "foreign qin".[3]

The Iraqi santur has, since its inception, been fully chromatic, allowing for full maqam modulations. It uses 12 bridges of steel strings on both sides. Three of these bridges are movable: B half flat qaraar, E half flat, and B half flat jawaab. The non-standard version of the Iraqi santur includes extra bridges so that there's no need to move those three bridges. However, playing it is a bit harder than playing the standard 12-bridge santur.[3]

Notable players

Iran

Iraq

Notable players of the Iraqi santur include:[25]

Greece

Players of the Greek Santouri include:

India

Notable players of the Indian santoor include:

Germany

Poland

Turkey

Lebanon

From around the world

Versions of the santur or hammered dulcimer are used throughout the world. In Eastern Europe, a larger descendant of the hammered dulcimer called the cimbalom is played and has been used by a number of classical composers, including Zoltán Kodály, Igor Stravinsky, and Pierre Boulez, and more recently, in a different musical context, by Blue Man Group. The khim is the name of both the Thai and the Khmer hammered dulcimer. The Chinese yangqin is a type of hammered dulcimer that originated in Persia. The santur and santoor are found in the Middle East and India, respectively.

See also

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Farrokh. Kaveh. Shadows in the desert : ancient Persia at war. 2007. Osprey. Oxford, UK. 9781846031083. 286. 1. publ. in Great Britain.
  2. --- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻUmmāl al-Markazīyya.
  3. Book: Touma. Habib Hasan. The Music of the Arabs. 1996. Amadeus Press. Portland, Oregon. 0-931340-88-8.
  4. Oxford English Dictionary, updated December 2022, ''s.v.'' 'santoor
  5. Book: Farhat, Hormoz . 1990 . The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music . Cambridge University Press . 052130542X .
  6. Book: Kenrick, Donald . The A to Z of the Gypsies (Romanies). 2010. Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, MD. 978-0-8108-7561-6. 43.
  7. Book: Touma, Habib . The music of the Arabs . 1996 . Amadeus Press . 978-0-931340-88-8 . New expanded . Portland, Or.
  8. Web site: Kiani. Majid. Master of the Santur. Santur Master, Teacher & Performer.
  9. Web site: Khan. Mohammad Sadeq. One of the oldest Santur Masters. Master of the Santur.
  10. Web site: Shahi. Ali Akbar. Santur master. Old school santur player.
  11. Web site: Khan. Hassan. Santur Master. Old school Santur Master.
  12. Web site: Malek. Hussein. Santur master. Old School Santur Master.
  13. Web site: Somai. Habib. santur master. Old school Santur master.
  14. Web site: Varzandeh. Reza. Santur Master. Unique Style of Playing.
  15. Web site: Shafieian. Reza. Saba's Student. Santur Master.
  16. Web site: Sarami. Mansur. Santur Master. Old School Santur player. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  17. Web site: Shaari. Masoud. Santur Master. Old School Santur Master. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  18. Web site: Khan. Mohammad Santour. Oldest Santur Master that we have proof of. Master of the Santur.
  19. Web site: Safvat. Daryoush. Santur Master. Old school Santur master. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  20. Web site: Akhbari. Jalal. Old School Santur Master. Master of the Santur. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  21. Web site: Arfa. Atrai. Santur Player. Santur Soloist.
  22. Web site: Hashemi. Azar. Female Santur Player. Santur Soloist. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  23. Web site: Aslani. Susan. Female Santur Player. Santur Soloist. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  24. Web site: Ali Pour. Manijeh. Female Santur Player. Old School Santur Player. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20060502100420/http://persianartmusic.com/English/biography_s.html. 2 May 2006.
  25. Al-Hanafi, Jalal (1964). Al-Mughannūn al-Baghdādīyyūn wa al-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī. Baghdad: Wizarat al-Irshad.
  26. Web site: Amir ElSaffar | Jazz Trumpeter | Composer | Iraqi Maqam Singer | Santoor Player. Amirelsaffar.com. 20 April 2021.
  27. Web site: Traditional Iraqi Music. Dangoor.com. 20 April 2021.
  28. Web site: mohamedzakidarwish - santourmzdarwish. Sites.google.com. 20 April 2021.
  29. Web site: وسام ايوب العزاوي عزف على الة السنطور. 12 May 2012 . 20 April 2021. YouTube.
  30. Web site: عزف على السنطور || للفنان وسام ايوب. 20 April 2021. YouTube.
  31. Web site: عزف سنطور _ وسام العزاوي _مقام نهاوند. 14 November 2009 . 20 April 2021. YouTube.
  32. Web site: Our wishes to India's single female Santoor player Dr. Varsha Agrawal (born 29 Jan 1967). 28 January 2013.
  33. Web site: CHINAR SHADE : USTAAD MUHAMMAD ABDULLAH TIBETBAQAL (1914-1982) SUFIANA MUSICIAN FROM KASHMIR. Chinar. Shade. 14 April 2015.
  34. Web site: Artist - Harjinder Pal Singh (Santoor), Gharana - None. www.swarganga.org.
  35. Web site: Pt. Shivkumar Sharma. Shantiniketan.eu. 20 April 2021.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Santur".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.