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Santurs
Maker
- M.Kerimov.
Baku. 1978,1979
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The santur
belongs to the family of instruments named "Yatyg
Sazlar"-that is, horizontally laying fc Instruments.
The canun and nuzha are two other instruments of this
type. The main difference between the santur and these
instruments is in the way the sound is produced.
The santur
is played with light hammers. Hence, the santur is
also considered a string percussion instrument.
However, the
canun and nuzha are played with the plectrum, so they
are plucked (pizzicato) instruments. According to
historical data, the word "santur" originates
from the Greek word "psanterina".
According
to legend, the Hebrew king David was the creator of
a number of musical instruments, including the santur.
R. Yektabey notes: "This musical instrument is
of very ancient origin. It's mentioned in the Torah
under the name 'psanterin'. The word 'santer' represents
the other (phonetic) form of this name."
Other versions
of horizontally laying musical instruments are widespread
in Eastern and Western countries. The most ancient
and simple versions are still found among the people
of Tuva and Hakassia. Russians call the instruments
of this type "gusli", Belorussians and Moldovans,
"tsimbaly"; the Chuvash, "kjesli";
Tatars, "gusli"; Estonians, "kannel";
Georgians, "santuri"; and Uzbeks, "chang"
and other names. The Ottoman Turks use two kinds of
santur: the Alafrang and the Turkish Santur. These
versions of santur are very similar in terms of structure,
performance, scale and other features.
The diatonic
santur with nine bridges is widespread now in Southern
Azerbaijan (Iran). These nine bridges are on only
one part of the instrument. In total, the instrument
has 1 8 bridges: (9+9). The chromatic version of the
santur has 24 bridges (12+12). There are some larger
versions of the chromatic santur in Iran that are
called "bem santur"-that is, the santur
with a low timbre ("bam" is Azeri for "low").
The santur
looks like a trapezoidal wooden box. The instrument
consists of a frame, a top board and a bottom board.
The total length of a santur with 12 bridges is 892
mm, the width is 315 mm, and the height is 69 mm.
The instrument has a total of 96 metal strings. Four
strings of the same tuning pass through each bridge.
All of the wooden parts of the instrument are made
of nut wood, and the pegs and strings-holder are made
of metal. The bottom sounding board is seven-mm-thick
board, and the top board is five mm thick. Players
identify a "sol santur", "la santur"
or "ti santur", depending on the tuning
of the instrument.
The santur
is not considered to be a transposing instrument.
The range of the santur with nine bridges goes from
the "mi" of the small octave to the "re"
of the first octave. The santur with 1 2 bridges ranges
from the "mi" of the great octave to the
"la" sharp of second octave. The santur
can be used as a solo, ensemble or orchestral instrument.
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