Maulana Rumi Online: Persian Santoor and Flamenco Guitar

Persian Santoor and Flamenco Guitar

"Santoor (Dulcimer) is a 3000 year old Persian musical instrument which for the first time was recorded in Assyrian and Babylonian stone inscriptions in 669 B.S. Santoor was christened Dulcimer in English literature since 1400 A.D. and nowadays more than 10 types of Iraqi, Egyptian, Indian and Turkish dulcimers are made and played in other countries. Persian Santoor is a trapezoid-shaped box often made of walnut, with 72 or 96 strings. The name means one hundred strings in Persian. The special-shaped mallets (mezrab) are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers. Many instruments around the world at least in part derive from the santoor. Similar forms of the santoor have been present in neighboring cultures like India, Armenia, Turkey, and Iraq for centuries. The Indian santoor is thicker, more rectangular, and can have more strings. Its corresponding mallets are also held differently. The Chinese yangqin may have originated from the Mesopotamian santoor. The Roma people introduced a derivative of the santoor called the cymbalum to Eastern Europe, which in turn likely led to the development of the clavichord and the piano. The Greek santouri is also derived from the santoor, and in Nikos Kazantzakis' classic novel Zorba the Greek Zorba plays the santouri."

"Manoochehr Sadeghi is a leading Santur (Santoor) virtuoso with forty five years of professional experience in teaching and performing both in Iran and The United States. He has performed on Tehran radio and television and has performed widely in The United States, Great Britain, Denmark, The Netherlands, India, Pakistan and Israel. Dr. Sadeghi taught at the Conservatory of Persian National Music in Tehran. Since 1964 he has been studying and teaching in the United States, completing an M.A. in music at Fullerton State College, Los Angeles, California and a PhD in Ethnomusicology at UCLA in Los Angeles, California where he has been performing and serving as a Lecturer in Persian Music as well."

Persian Santoor & Flamenco Guitar- Ustad Sadeghi