Santoor Party

s. SANTOOR Played by renowned musician Deepak Khazanchi
(Tel: 07724 440567)

The Santoor– A brief history:-

The Santoor is an Indian stringed musical instrument which later spread to several regions of Asia. It was used
as an accompaniment instrument to the Folk music of Kashmir. A many stringed instrument is played in a style
of music known as the Sufiana Mausiqi. The Sufi mystics used it as an accompaniment to their hymns. It is related to the Indian shata-tantri veena of earlier times and has strong resemblances with the Persian santur. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy strings. The special-shaped mallets
(mezrab) are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers. A typical santoor has two sets
of bridges, providing a range of three octaves. The Kashmiri santoor is more rectangular and can have more strings than the original Persian counterpart, which
generally has 72 strings. The santoor as used in Kashmiri classical music is played with a pair of curved mallets
made of walnut wood and the resultant melodies are similar to the music of the harp, harpsichord or piano. The
sound chamber is also made of walnut wood and the bridges are made of local wood and painted dark like ebony. Just like the Indian ‘SITAR’ which was made popular around the world by renowned ‘Pandit Ravi Shankar’ is
the ‘SANTOOR’ by the Notable santoor player of the twentieth century ‘Pandit Shivkumar Sharma’