The Santur is a Persian hammer dulcimer with 72 strings and shares many similarities with the Indian santoor. It comprises of a trapezoidal box (usually made of walnut or other exotic woods) with the strings lying horizontally on top. It is played with light weight mallets (mezrabs) and typically has a range of around three octaves.
In this video I interview Hamid Reza Rasti, one of the only player of Santur in the country! In the video he describes about the 72 strings and the history of the instrument and then he gave a 5 minute performance and I was taken back. When I tried after to do improvisation like I did with the most classical melodies on my first album I just couldn't interfere with the distinctive sound and melody, please watch and enjoy.
If you would like to contact Hamid about to learn more you can contact him on frasti1351@yahoo.co.uk
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The Santur, Santour or Santoor is a Persian hammered dulcimer and nothing to do with Arabic music history. The name Santur was first referenced in ancient Persian poetry and some archeological evidence dating back thousands of years. Similar forms of the Santur have been present in neighboring cultures like India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Armenia, Turkey, Iraqi- Kurdistan, China and Greece. In Greek called Santouri also derived from the Santur.
Khashayar2003 1 week ago
Very interesting thank you very much Ostad.
Paulhoushang 2 months ago