Santoor

The Santoor

The Santoor’s name comes from the name Shata-tantric, meaning a Veena of hundred strings. A Veena was a common name for a string instrument. It is trapezoid in shape basically meaning it looks sort of like a triangle with the top cut away so whilst you do have four sides only two side are parallel. It consists of a hollow box with 25 bridges, each having 4 strings resting on it. It is played with the help of two wooden mallets known as mezrabs.

The Santoor has traditionally been used in the music of the Kashmir valley as an accompaniment to Sufi music. It was brought into the classical tradition by Pandit Umadutt Sharma, who brought it into Hindustani classical traditions.

The modernised Santoor, played by Pandit ShivKumar Sharma and his disciples has 31 bridges and 91 strings. The resonance is cut down by placing the instrument on the lap of the player, rather than on a wooden stand.

There has been a historical debate on the Santoor’s origins but one thing that is agreed is that the Sufis have long since been using this mercurial and magical looking instrument in their music. In India Pandit Shivkumar Sharma made famous the Santoor and his talk on how this came to be can be heard on darbar.org-Seven Days of Santoor…where one can also read the history of this Ustad’s musical journey written by George Hewlett.

The music created from playing the Santoor was made for a devotional outlook on life and living. Its sounds can be heard in the whole body and not just that of the player. It is very difficult to create any music of anger upon the Santoor as the sounds are akin to the music of summer rains, even the storms are those of joy, peace and a heralding of healing. The whirling dance is the music of the Santoor in motion…the perfect notes from this instrument resonate within us all.