santur

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

Santoor musical instrument shares similarities with the piano and chordophone, as it produces sound when the strings are struck with a hammer. It has a vibrant tone and a wide range of pitch, making it versatile and distinctive.

The santoor is an ancient folk instrument thought to have originated in Persia, from where, according to some scholars, it made its way to India.

In Kashmir the santoor was used to accompany folk music. It is played in a style of music known as the Sufiana Mausiqi. Some researchers slot it as an improvised version of a primitive instrument played in the Mesopotamian times (1600–900 B.C.) Sufi mystics used it as an accompaniment to their hymns.

The santur is a hammered box zither chordophone of the Persian people of Iran. It is used primarily in performances of classical Persian music (musiqi-ye asil) and entertainment music (motrebi), but not in folk and popular music traditions.

The tambura or tanpura is a plucked drone instrument used to accompany instrumental or vocal performances. The four strings are played open rather than being depressed to alter the note. This example is considerably smaller than the typical tambura. A very small version is sometimes known as a tamburi.

zither sanṭūr, also spelled santour or santoor, also called santouri, stringed instrument of the hammered dulcimer, or struck zither, family that is found in various forms across southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma was a santoor player and Indian classical musician who is credited for modifying the instrument for Indian classical music.

The santoor is a kind of hammered dulcimer, a stringed percussion instrument played with mallets. “When we hit the string,” Vyas said, “it produces sound. It's comparable to pianos; on the piano, when you press keys, hammers inside hit the strings, and that's how sound is created.

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma was a santoor player and Indian classical musician who is credited for modifying the instrument for Indian classical music.

The tanpura by its function of providing a background, provides neither a specific note nor a rhythm. It creates a circle of certain pitches which by themselves do not produce a melody. Therefore, it will be more apt if we say that the tanpura creates a melodic background, but not a melody.

According to history, the tanpura owes its origin to an instrument that came here from the Balkan region. It is also said that Indian folk instruments like tamburi, tuntuni and gopi-yantra are the precursors of the tambura, which derived its name from a gourd called tumba.