Santur

Santur
See Santoor for the Indian variant of the instrument.

String Classification Struck

Related instruments Hammered Dulcimer

The santur (also santr, santour, santoor ) (Persian: )is a Persian hammered dulcimer[1] It is a trapezoid-shaped box often made of walnut or different exotic woods. The Persian classical santur has 72 strings. The name santur was first referenced in ancient Persian poetry. To date there has never been verifiable evidence what this name actually means, it is just a name and the only meaning it has in the Persian language is this instrument. 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 bridges, providing a range of approximately three octaves. The right-hand strings are made of brass or copper,[2] while the left-hand strings are made of steel.[3] Two rows of 9 articles called "kharak" (total of 18 kharaks) divide the santur into three positions. Over each bridge crosses four strings 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 Poshte Kharak (behind the left bridges) comprising 27 notes all together. The top "F" note is repeated 2 times, creating a total of 25 separate tones in the Santur. The Persian santur is primarily tuned to a variety of different diatonic scales utilizing 1/4 tones (semi-tones) which are designated into 12 Dastgah's (modes) of Persian classical music. These 12 Dastgah's are the repertory of Persian classical music known as the Radif.

Santur Hand Position

Santur Technique Video.theora

Santur

Derivations
Similar forms of the santur have been present in neighboring cultures like India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkey, Iraq and Greece. The Indian santoor is wider, more rectangular and has more strings. Its corresponding mallets are also held differently played with a different technique. The Chinese yangqin and the Greek santouri also derived from the santur. The eastern Europe version of the santur called the cimballum which is much larger and chromatic is used as an accompanying instrument in gypsy music.

Notable Persian santur players

Iran Abol Hassan Saba Manoochehr Sadeghi Faramarz Payvar Parviz Meshkatian Majid Kiani[4]

Woman playing the santur in a painting from the Hasht-Behesht Palace in Isfahan Iran, 1669

Mohammad Sadeq Khan[5] Ali Akbar Shahi[6] Hassan Khan[7] Hussein Malek[8] Habib Somai[9] Reza Varzandeh[10] Reza Shafieian[11] Mansur Sarami[12] Masoud Shaari[13] Mohammad Santour Khan[14] Daryoush Safvat[15] Jalal Akhbari[16]

Ancient Babylonian Santur Drawing of Relief

Ardavan Kamkar Pashang Kamkar Kourosh Zolani Arfa Atrai[17] Azar Hashemi[18] Susan Aslani[19] Manijeh Ali Pour[20]

Santur

Santur players from other cultures

Greece (Greek Santoori) Aristidis Moschos Areti Ketime India (see Indian santoor) Rahul Sharma Shivkumar Sharma Iraq Amir ElSaffar Japan Dr. Masato Tani[21]

Santur makers
Nazemi produced the world's best santurs. He wasn't a craftsman, but he orchestrated the production of the best santurs made in Iran during the 50's and 60's. He used a master craftsman named Misour Levon who recently passed away at the age of 91 in Glendale, California. Ali Bahmani made santurs that sound as good as Nazemi's. He took his craft to higher level, creating a machine press and created many advanced technology wood treatments, creative ideas that improved the longevity and quality of his santurs. Mr. Bahmani passed away in September 2011, in a freak accident in Tehran, Iran. He was only 35 years old and left behind a wife and a son.

Santurs 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 Zoltn Kodly, 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.
Austria Hackbrett Belgium Hakkebord Brazil saltrio Cambodia khim China (yangqin) Croatian cimbal, cimbale Czech Republic cimbl Denmark hakkebrt France tympanon Germany Hackbrett Greece santouri Hungary cimbalom India santoor Iran santur Iraq santur Ireland tiompan Italy salterio Korea yanggeum Laos khim Latgalia (Latvia) cymbala Latvia cimbole Mongolia joochin Netherlands hakkebord Norway - hakkebrett Poland cymbay Portugal saltrio Romania ambal Russia tsimbaly, (dultsimer) Serbia (tsimbal) Slovakia cimbal Slovenia cimbale, oprekelj Spain (and Spanish-speaking countries) salterio, dulcmele Sweden hackbrde, hammarharpa Switzerland Hackbrett Thailand khim Turkey santur Ukraine tsymbaly United Kingdom hammered dulcimer United States hammered dulcimer Uzbekistan chang Vietnam n tam thp lc (lit. "36 strings") Yiddish tsimbl

Belarus (tsymbaly)

Lithuania cimbalai, cimbolai

Santur
[22]

References
[1] "Santur is a Persian hammered dulcimer" (http:/ / artmax. org/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=67& Itemid=119). Art Max Academy. . [2] "Bass strings made of Brass or Copper" (http:/ / artmax. org/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=67& Itemid=119). Art Max Academy. . [3] "Different kinds of Steel exist" (http:/ / artmax. org/ index. php?option=com_content& view=article& id=67& Itemid=119). Art Max Academy. . [4] Kiani, Majid. "Master of the Santur" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Santur Master, Teacher & Performer. . [5] Khan, Mohammad Sadeq. "One of the oldest Santur Masters" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Master of the Santur. . [6] Shahi, Ali Akbar. "Santur master" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Old school santur player. . [7] Khan, Hassan. "Santur Master" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Old school Santur Master. . [8] Malek, Hussein. "Santur master" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Old School Santur Master. . [9] Somai, Habib. "santur master" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Old school Santur master. . [10] Varzandeh, Reza. "Santur Master" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Very Unique Style of Playing. . [11] Shafieian, Reza. "Saba's Student" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Santur Master. . [12] Sarami, Mansur. "Santur Master" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Old School Santur player. . [13] Shaari, Masoud. "Santur Master" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Old School Santur Master. . [14] Khan, Mohammad Santour. "Oldest Santur Master that we have proof of". Master of the Santur. [15] Safvat, Daryoush. "Santur Master" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Old school Santur master. . [16] Akhbari, Jalal. "Old School Santur Master" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Master of the Santur. . [17] Arfa, Atrai. "Santur Player" (http:/ / www. farabisoft. com/ Pages/ FarabiSchool/ InstrumentsDetails. aspx?lang=en& PID=4& SID=30). Santur Soloist. . [18] Hashemi, Azar. "Female Santur Player" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Santur Soloist. . [19] Aslani, Susan. "Female Santur Player" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Santur Soloist. . [20] Ali Pour, Manijeh. "Female Santur Player" (http:/ / www. persianartmusic. com/ English/ biography_s. html). Old School Santur Player. . [21] Tani, Dr. Masato. "Japanese Santur Player" (http:/ / www. iranican. com/ blog/ meet-dr-masato-tani-persian-speaking-japanese-santur-player/ ). Ethnomusicology. . [22] "Santurs from different cultures" (http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Hammered_dulcimer& action=edit& section=5). Wikipedia. .

Further reading
Heydarian, P.; J.D. Reiss (2005). "The Persian music and the santur instrument" (http:/ / ismir2005. ismir. net/ proceedings/ 2120. pdf). Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Music Information Retrieval, London, UK. 11. pp.524-527.

External links
Santur - The Art of Persian Music (http://www.santur.com) Santur introduction in American Lutherie magazine (http://www.luth.org/downloads/AL92/naini.htm) Nay-Nava Encyclopedia entry on the santur (http://nay-nava.blogfa.com/post-2.aspx) Dr. mit Mutlu's information on the santur (in Turkish) (http://www.turkmusikisi.com/calgilar/santur)

Santur history (in Turkish) (http://turksanturu.com/tarihce.htm) The Iraqi Santur (http://www.taqasim.net/en/a/16.html)

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Santur Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=466123984 Contributors: Adamrce, Alborz Fallah, Amir mousavi, Babakexorramdin, Badagnani, Balthazarduju, BehnamFarid, Bonitac, Boudava, Cassandane, Chasingsol, Chochopk, Chrishmt0423, CommonsDelinker, D.Kurdistani, Danny, Dara97, David Levy, Dbachmann, Digitalera, Dogru144, EagleFan, Erfan.aghdasi, Ferdinand Pienaar, ForestAngel, Fyavari, GoingBatty, ILike2BeAnonymous, Iraqisantur, J04n, Jackie, Japanese Searobin, Johnkarp, Jonsafari, Jorunn, Jovianeye, Levent, Libra280, Loren.wilton, MK8, MatthewVanitas, Mohayeji, Musiclover81, Mzajac, N2e, NDCompuGeek, Nakhoda84, Nameneko, Ngebendi, Nuno Tavares, OlEnglish, Opus88888, Pcgxq, Persian1979, Puffin, Redheylin, Samanvaziri, Santourfan, Santur, Santurman, Santurman75, Shergo, Sheshagiri pk, Snappylover1, Snep, Snowgrouse, Steve2011, Sulmues, Teles, Theelf29, Theo10011, TimBentley, Tsujigiri, VasuVR, VulpesE, Vyom25, Wangi, White gecko, WikHead, Winter Gaze, Xashaiar, Ylem, Zandweb, 264 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Persian Classical Santur.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Persian_Classical_Santur.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Santurman File:Santur Hand Position.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Santur_Hand_Position.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:Santurman File:Santur Technique Video.theora.ogv Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Santur_Technique_Video.theora.ogv License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Santurman File:Hasht-Behesht Palace santur.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hasht-Behesht_Palace_santur.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Drakosh, Johnbod, Jonsafari, Mani1, Villanueva, ZxxZxxZ File:Santur babylon2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Santur_babylon2.jpg License: Free Art License Contributors: Musiclover81, 2 anonymous edits

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