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| Setar | |
|---|---|
| Name | Setar |
| Classification | String instrument, lute family |
| Background | string |
| Developed | Persia (Iran) |
| Related | Tanbur, Tar, Oud, Sitar, Dutar, Tambur, Santoor |
Setar The setar is a Persian long-necked lute with a small pear-shaped body used in classical and folk music across Iran and neighboring regions. It functions in solo, ensemble, and devotional contexts and is associated with tradition figures and institutions across Persian cultural history. The instrument appears in poetry, court music, and modern compositions linked to influential performers and conservatories.
The instrument emerges in sources tied to medieval Persia and the Safavid era, mentioned alongside figures such as Rumi, Hafez, Saadi Shirazi, Nizami Ganjavi, and courts like Isfahan and Tabriz. Travelers and scholars including Ibn Battuta, Al-Biruni, Ibn Sina, and Yaqut al-Hamawi record similar long-necked lutes during the medieval Islamic world. Ottoman, Mughal, and Central Asian interactions—evidenced by connections to Sultanate of Rum, Safavid dynasty, Mughal Empire, and Timurid Empire—shaped tuning and repertoire alongside instruments such as the tanbur, tar, oud, sitar, and dutar. Sufi orders like the Mevlevi Order and poets within the Chishti Order used the setar in devotional music, paralleling vocal traditions promulgated by schools such as Darvish ensembles and musical salons in Shiraz and Qazvin. Modern revival and pedagogy link the instrument to institutions such as the Tehran Conservatory of Music, University of Tehran, and cultural policies of the Pahlavi dynasty and post-revolutionary ministries.
Traditional setar construction employs woods and luthiers associated with regions like Gilan, Mazandaran, Kerman, and Fars. The soundbox is carved from mulberry, walnut, or maple by makers in workshops influenced by families of luthiers documented alongside names such as Darvish Khan and craft centers in Isfahan County. The neck, frets, and pegs follow methods akin to those for the tar and tanbur; frets are movable like those used in classical Persian music systems and comparable to mechanisms in Arab oud repair traditions. Decorative motifs reference designs found in Persian carpet weaving and architecture from Persepolis and Golestan Palace artisans, while varnishes and glue recipes echo texts by medieval craftsmen and commentators including Al-Jazari. The setar’s strings originally used gut; modern sets include steel and bronze alloys produced in workshops near Tehran and industrial centers like Tabriz.
Players adopt tunings paralleling modal systems found in Dastgah and Radif traditions codified by masters such as Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Ruhollah Khaleqi, and Ali Akbar Shahnazi. Techniques include right-hand fingerstyle pincing similar to methods used on the sitar and left-hand microtonal ornaments discussed in treatises by Safavid court musicians and later pedagogues like Ostad Elahi. Fretting allows quarter-tone adjustments as in performances by schools associated with Radif of Mirza Abdollah and Radif of Agha Hossein Gholi. Composers and performers from conservatories like Conservatory of Music (Tehran) integrate techniques from Western classical guitar pedagogy and Indian classical music approaches when collaborating with cross-cultural ensembles.
The setar features in repertoires tied to Dastgah-e Shur, Dastgah-e Mahur, Dastgah-e Homayun, and other modal cycles preserved in the Radif collections assembled by musicians such as Mirza Abdollah and Agha Hossein Gholi. Works by contemporary composers—linked to institutions like the Iranian House of Music and festivals such as the Fajr International Music Festival—place the setar in chamber music, film scores for directors like Abbas Kiarostami and Asghar Farhadi, and cross-genre projects with artists from Anoushirvan Rohani to Kayhan Kalhor. In religious and mystical settings the setar accompanies poets and singers associated with gatherings connected to Hafezieh commemorations and Sufi ritual music performed by ensembles influenced by the Mevlevi and Naqshbandi traditions.
Regional variants emerge across Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Khorasan, Baluchistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan where local luthiers adapt size, string count, and ornamentation similar to adaptations seen between the Turkish saz and the Central Asian dutar. Influences from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan create hybrid instruments and repertoires, reflected in exchanges involving musicians from Bukhara, Samarkand, Kandahar, and Lahore. Urban centers like Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz maintain stylistic schools and maker lineages.
Prominent performers and teachers linked to the instrument include masters taught in lineages connected to Mirza Abdollah, such as Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh, Kayhan Kalhor (in collaborative settings), Javad Maroufi, Mansour Nariman, Hossein Omoumi, Hassan Kassai, and contemporary figures affiliated with University of Tehran and Tehran Conservatory of Music. Renowned luthiers and workshop names trace to families and craftsmen from Isfahan, Tehran, and Tabriz who supplied instruments to royal courts and recording studios used by labels and institutions like the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Iranian National Music Archive.
The instrument features in Persian literary and artistic symbolism alongside poets and intellectuals such as Rumi, Hafez, Ferdowsi, and Omar Khayyam where it symbolizes spiritual longing, aesthetic refinement, and cultural continuity. It appears in state-sponsored cultural diplomacy involving museums like the National Museum of Iran and cultural festivals organized by bodies including the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. The setar figures in iconography of modern Iranian identity debates, ethnomusicological studies from Berklee College of Music collaborations to fieldwork by scholars at SOAS University of London and Harvard University.
Category:Persian musical instruments