Persian Santoor - Hammered Dulcimer |
Top quality Persian Santoor - only teakwood Persian hammered dulcimer with 100% stainless steel fittings + FREE Hard Case - with beautiful decorative work. Fully tuned, all accessories, tuners and premium rosewood mallets included. |
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Santoor 3 octaves, 72 strings, 9 right & 9 left courses,, movable bridges, 18 Notes with Hardcase, Key & Stick Pair. Beautiful sheesham shade. Extremely high quality piece for concert-grade performance. With a beautiful custom-made hardcase. |
about the persian santoor The Santoor (Santur) is an instrument indigenous to Iran, Iraq and Kashmir. Perhaps as old as the harp, the ancient Santur was simply a kind of a harp struck by mallets. The term Santur is said to be of Persian origin, probably a derivative of the word "Sadtar" which means "instrument with a hundred strings". Similar instruments to the Persian Santur can be found in almost every part of the world. They all differ in shape and range: Santoor in India, Sandouri in Greece, Santur in Iraq, Yang qin in China, Cimbalom in Hungary and hammered dulcimer in England. Most of the Santurs found in the countries close to Iran are larger than the Persian Santur. For instance the Keshmiri Santur from India has 100 strings and the Iraqi Santur has 92 strings. In Iran the instrument with 96 strings and 12 breaches is still in use but seldom in art music. Apparently the Santur has become smaller in Iran for various reasons, one of which most likely has to do with the tuning of the instrument. The Persian Santur is a trapezoid-shaped instrument with 72 strings. The strings are divided into 18 quadruple sets, where nine (bronze/copper) are in the lower register and nine (steel) are in the middle register. The strings are connected to the sound box by 18 breaches, which enable the instrument to attain a higher octave on the left side of the middle register and provides a range of 3/5 octaves. The left bridges which support the treble courses are positioned at two thirds of the string length. This enables the player to produce two notes from the each treble course. Striking on the right hand side of the left bridge will produce the fundamental. Striking on the left side of the left bridge will produce the relative fifth. The bridges on the right side of the instrumnent carry the bass courses. They only produce the fundamental. A pair of light wooden mallets held in each hand produces the sound of the Santur by striking the strings. It is said that a Santur player should devote half of his or her life to tuning the instrument. With our instrument, you get tuning instructions to save you the bother. One must not confuse the Persian santur with the Indian santur. The Indian santur is box-like while the Persian version is much wider. The Indian santoor is more sophisticated and classical instrument than the Persian santoor that has remained undeveloped for several centuries and as such remains a folksy instrument used primarily as accompaniment to folk-singing only. However the Persian santoor is versatile enough to be used well for fusion music as it has a better range than the Indian santoor. we have sound samples of both the instruments so it might be a good idea to check both out before you decide which one to choose. Our unbeatable factory prices should help! |
