A setar ( fa, سه‌تار, ) is a

stringed instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

, a type of

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

used in

Persian traditional music Persian traditional music or Iranian traditional music, also known as Persian classical music or Iranian classical music, refers to the classical music of Iran (also known as ''Persia''). It consists of characteristics developed through the coun ...

, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the

tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...

family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octaves. Originally a three stringed instrument, a fourth string was added by the mid 19th century. It is played with the

index finger The index finger (also referred to as forefinger, first finger, second finger, pointer finger, trigger finger, digitus secundus, digitus II, and many other terms) is the second digit of a human hand. It is located between the thumb and the mid ...

of the right hand. It has been speculated that the setar originated in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

by the 9th century C.E. A more conservative estimate says "it originated in the 15th century, or even earlier." Although related to the

, in recent centuries, the setar has evolved so that, musically, it more closely resembles the

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

, both in

tuning Tuning can refer to: Common uses * Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component * Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice ** Guitar tunings ** Piano tuning, adjusti ...

and playing style.

Etymology

According to

Curt Sachs Curt Sachs (; 29 June 1881 – 5 February 1959) was a German musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments). Among his contributions was the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which he created with Er ...

, Persians chose to name their lutes around the word ''tar'', meaning string, combined with a word for the number of strings. Du + tar is the 2-stringed dutār, se + tar is the 3-stringed setār, čartar (4 strings), pančtār (5 strings). The modern Iranian instrument's name سه‌تار ' is a combination of سه '—meaning "three"—and تار '—meaning "string", therefore the word gives the meaning of "three-stringed" or "tri-stringed". In spite of the instrument's name implying it should have three strings, the modern instrument actually has four strings. One was added in the 19th century. Strings however are grouped so that musicians are still dealing with three groups or

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

of strings, instead of four separately played strings.

Sharing a name

Other tanbur-family instruments share the setar name. Sharing the name may not mean a direct connection between the

musical traditions Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the n ...

. In

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

, the Pamiri Setor is larger than the Iranian setar. It has 3 playing strings and

sympathetic string Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are typically not played directly by the performer (excep ...

s (as many as 8–12). It is played with a "thimblelike metal plectrum" worn on a finger. In

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western Asia, Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian S ...

, the setar is larger than the Iranian setar, and is a "rhythmic drone" instrument to accompany singing. Its three strings are set up to resemble the

dutar The ''dutar'' (also ''dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Centr ...

's two strings: one bass string and a pair of strings tune "a 4th higher." In

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, there exists the

Chitrali sitar The chitrali sitar ( ur, چترالی ستھار) is a long-necked lute played in northern area, Chitral of Pakistan. It is not related to the Indian sitar and its name is related to ''setar, the Central Asian and Iranian long-necked lute. The in ...

with 5 strings in 3 courses, with melody played on the top two strings. In

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...

, China, '' Satar'' ( ug, ساتار; zh, 萨塔尔, ''Sàtǎ'ěr'') is an important instrument in 12 muqam. It is a bowed lute with 13 strings, one raised bowing string and 12 sympathetic strings, tuned to the mode of the muqam or piece being played. In

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, the

Sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

is an ancient instrument with many forms. Its name is "an

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' The Indian instrument was likely adapted from instruments brought from the north with invading Muslim armies and then developed locally.

Construction

1. Peghead or

headstock A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the pegs or mechanism that holds the strings at th ...

2. Pegs 3.

Fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...

above nut 4. Nut 5. Main

s 6. Side Frets or Secondary Frets 7.

Neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

8. Bowl 9.

Sound hole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the vio ...

s 10.

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

11. String holder or wire holder 12. Strings

The instrument can be categorized as a neck-bowl instrument. Strings run from the pegs at the top of the neck, across a bone or plastic nut that has grooves to separate them, down the neck, across the bowl, over the bridge and are secured to a string holder at the end of the bowl. The pegs are inserted directly into the end of the instrument's neck, similar to a

The bowl is structurally similar to the bowl of the tanbur, but smaller and pear-shaped. The length of the bowl is from 26 to 30 cm, its width is between 12 and 16 cm and its depth is about 13 cm. It is usually made of mulberry or walnut wood. The structure of the bowl can be either a single piece of wood or made of separate and glued pieces. The soundboard of the bowl is made of thin sheets of wood. It has sound holes to let the sound escape the bowl. The musician's hand may be placed on it while playing. The length of the neck is 40 to 48 cm long and 3 cm wide. A 12 cm section at the top is set aside for the pegs. The neck may be decorated with camel bone, covering the neck to make it more beautiful and to extend its useful life. The wooden bridge is between 5 and 6 cm long and its height is less than 1 cm. It has shallow grooves for the strings to rest in. The strings, after passing over the bridge from the neck, are secured on the wire holder. The neck has frets made from thin threads made of animal intestines or silk. They are tied in 3 or 4 strands across the neck, and are responsible for dividing the neck into lengths, allowing the musician to find notes. There may be 26 frets, one of which is at the nut and not used to create a note.

Characteristics

The setar belongs to the

family, but today it is very close to the

, having the same neck (and same number of frets and tuning system). The setar has a pear-shaped body, made (like those of the

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

) from strips of thin

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 ident ...

wood lathes, glued together into a bowl. Alternatively, the bowl could be carved from a block of wood. The bowl is approximately 25 cm long and 15 centimeters at the widest point, and 15 centimeters deep. The neck of the instrument is long and narrow, long enough to support a 62–70 cm-long string (minus the 25 cm where the string passes over the bowl after leaving the neck). The neck has gut strings wrapped around it which function as

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...

s, which can be positioned to change the notes that the musician will hit upon fingering at the fret. The ''New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments'' says that there are between 25 and 27 frets. Another source, mentions between 22 and 28 frets, placed according to the musician's ear. Setar and Tanbur

The instrument is strung with four strings. From top to bottom the strings are (4) Bam or bass string, (3) drone string, (2) yellow string) and (1) silver string. The top-two strings, referred to together by the one-string's name —''bam'' (بم)— function together as a pair and are played together. The other two strings are known as the gold string and the silver string. The silver string is the melody string. Historically, only the (4) bam string, the (2) yellow string and the (1) silver string existed. The need for the additional fourth string was recognized centuries ago, by intellectual thinkers such as Abu Nasr al-Farabi (ca. 872-950 C.E.), Abu Ali Sina (980-1037 C.E.), Safi al-Din Ermavi (ca. 1216-1294 C.E.), and (in the 20th century) the late Abul Hassan Khan Saba. The new string is sometimes referred to as the "fourth string" because it is the last of the four strings to be added to the instrument. However, it was inserted between the yellow string and bass string; today when looking at the modern instrument being played, it is the (3) drone string, the third string from the bottom. The newest string is also known as the Mushtaq (مشتاق) string, because it was first used by Mushtaq Ali Shah, according to a narration of

Abolhassan Saba Abu Al-Hasan ( ar, أبو الحسن, Abū Al-Ḥasan, Father of Hasan), also transliterated Abu'l Hasan, is an Arabic ''kunya'' ('teknonym'). It may refer to: Notable people Politics and military * Ali ibn Abi Talib (600–661), the fourth ...

Playing the setar

The setar is played with the musician sitting, held at a 45- degree angle on the right thigh. Normally, the musician uses the fingers of the left hand on the frets to choose notes on the white string (bottom-most string). The right hand plays the setar, usually using only the index finger. The instrument is played using the index finger of the right hand, using an "oscillating motion" This differentiates it from the tanburs, which are plucked with multiple fingers or with a homemade plectrum, made from plastic, quills or razor blades. In more complicated works the musician may use the index, middle, ring and sometimes the little finger of the left hand to fret notes, and may use the thumb to pick notes on the bass strings.

Tuning the setar

The instrument is most commonly tuned c c' g c' using

Helmholtz pitch notation Helmholtz pitch notation is a system for naming musical notes of the Western chromatic scale. Fully described and normalized by the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz, it uses a combination of upper and lower case letters (A to G), and th ...

. The strings are tuned in multiple ways, to match a music's tonality or a singer's voice. A basic example showing one of the tuning patterns, listed in

scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation (SPN), also known as American standard pitch notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN), is a method of specifying musical pitch by combining a musical note name (with accidental if needed) and a number id ...

, top to bottom: C₃ C₄ • G₃ • C₄. The lowest pitch strings played together as a course (C₃ C₄) are the bass string (made of bronze or phosphor-bronze) and the drone (made of steel). The highest pitch strings are the "yellow" G₃, made of bronze or phosphor-bronze and the "white" G₃ made of steel. Players not only tune the strings of the setar, but also move the gut or nylon frets that are tied around the neck, between the neck and the strings. Since these frets are moveable, players can move them to set notes closer or farther apart. The instrument is designed to play microtones, pitches between the standard western pitches on the piano keyboard. A Koron lowers and a Sori raises the pitches by quarter steps (flats and sharps are half-steps).

Setting strings for a ''Dastgâh''

Woman with a setar, Safavid Iran, Isfahan (ca

Strings are tuned to meet the tonal requirements of Dastgâh. The instrument's four strings are not always set the same. Tones are not absolutes (unless playing with instruments that are set, such as a western-instruments with standardized and unchangeable pitches). Rather, the strings are intervals, what one string sounds like when compared to the first string.

Setting the frets

Notes on a Setar's white string, tuned to C

The table below can be used to position the frets on the instrument's neck; the frets are made of tied string and are moveable. The instrument used to create the measurements had a scale length of 66 centimeters, from nut at the top to bridge at the bottom. The table contains the names and playable samples of notes, for a string set to C. The instrument has microtones; in western music the

musical scale In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Often, especially in the ...

is made of tones and half-tones. In Persian music, there can be quarter tones as well, marked koron or sori. These are quarter tones. Koron is 1/4 step flat. Sori is 1/4 step sharp. For example, in the photo there is an E4, E4 flat, and between the two an E4 koron. Between the F4 and the F4 sharp is the F4 sori.

The setar in recorded media

The setar was first recorded for

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

in the winter of 1888-1889 (1306 AH) by Arthur James Twain. He recorded singer Batool Rezaei (stage name: Banoo Machol Parvaneh, mother of Khatereh Parvaneh) playing setar, accompanied by Habibollah Samaei on

santur The santur (also ''santūr'', ''santour'', ''santoor'') ( fa, سنتور), is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.--- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). ''Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī''. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻU ...

, Ghavam Al-Sultan on

and Agha Mehdi Navai on ney. Joey Walker of Australian

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording te ...

band

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are an Australian rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood and Michael Cavanagh. They are ...

played Setar in various songs, primarily on the album

Nonagon Infinity ''Nonagon Infinity'' is the eighth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 29 April 2016 on ATO Records. The album is designed to play as an "infinite loop" where each song segues in ...

Notable setarists

* Mirza Abdollah * Hossein Alizadeh *

Ahmad Ebadi Ahmad Ebādi (1906 – 1993) ( Persian: احمد عبادی) was an Iranian musician and setar player. Born in Tehran, he was a member of the most extraordinary family of Iranian music. Ahmad's father, Mirza Abdollah, is arguably the most inf ...

Sa'id Hormozi Ostad Sa'id Hormozi ( fa, سعید هرمزی) (1898–1976) was an Iranian musician who is remembered for his efforts to "promote authentic Iranian music" and pass it to modern musicians. He was born in one of the old neighborhoods of Tehran cal ...

Kayhan Kalhor Kayhan Kalhor ( fa, کیهان کلهر, ku, کەیھان کەڵھوڕ, translit=Keyhan Kelhur, born 24 November 1964) is an Iranian-Kurds, Kurdish kamancheh and setar player and vocalist composer and master of Art music, classical Iranian tradi ...

Mohammad-Reza Lotfi Mohammad-Reza Lotfi ( fa, محمدرضا لطفی; 1 January 1947 – 2 May 2014) was an Iranian classical musician renowned for his mastery of the tar and setar. He collaborated with singers such as Mohammad-Rezā Shajarian, Hengameh Akhavan, ...

Hamid Motebassem Hamid Motebassem ( Persian: حمید متبسم) (b. 1958 Mashhad) is a classical Persian musician and tar and setar player. His first teacher was his father. Later, he studied with musicians like Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh and Hus ...

* Abolhasan Saba *

Dariush Safvat Dariush Safvat ( fa, داريوش صفوت‎; 28 November 1928 – 17 April 2013) also spelled as Daryush Safvat, was a master Persian traditional musician, teacher, and ethnomusicologist. Safvat is best known for his mastery of setar and sant ...

Dariush Talai Dariush Talai plays both the Tar and Setar. Born in 1953 in Iran, he studied Persian music with masters of the Radif. His teachers include Tar player Ali Akbar Shahnazi, Nur Ali Borumand with whom he studied radio and old compositions, as well as ...

Jalal Zolfonun Jalaal Zulfonun ( fa, جلال ذوالفنون, Jalâl Zolfonun, ) was an Iranian musician, setaar player, and a prominent composer and teacher of Persian music. Collaboration with Maurice Béjart He has also collaborated with Maurice Béjart ...

Notes

References

External links

How to tune a setar, tuning patterns for 12 dastgahs.Video. Setar solo by Kayhan Kalhor in the Abgineh Museum, Tehran, 21 May 2020.Radif played my Sa'im Hormozi. Has clips of his instrument playing in different dastgah tunings.
{{Authority control Necked bowl lutes Azerbaijani musical instruments Iranian inventions Persian musical instruments