Persian word, meaning ‘three strings’, used in Iran for a lute of the Tanbūr family with a small body, a long neck and four metal strings (three until the middle of the 19th century). It is played in classical Iranian music, mostly solo or to accompany singing. Like the Tār, which it resembles in the number of frets and the tuning system, it is held in high esteem because of its antiquity (it originated in the 15th century, or even earlier) and because its delicate and intimate tone restricts it to art music. Its manufacture, technique and playing style probably contributed to those of the tār at the end of the 18th century.
The pear-shaped body of the setār is made of mulberry wood assembled in strips or carved out of a single piece, and the long, narrow neck is provided with 25 to 27 movable frets producing the same intervals as on the tār; the strings are most often tuned c–c'–g–c'. The vibrating string is 62 to 70 cm long and the body is 25 cm long, 15 cm wide and 15 cm deep. The instrument is delicately made and weighs only 300 to 400 grams. The setār is distinguished from numerous other three- and four-string lutes in the region by a technique which uses only the index finger of the right hand in an oscillating motion. This makes for extreme fluidity and a richness of rhythmic and decorative patterns (mezrāb or nākhon). The Iranian musician Ahmad Ebadi (1906–93) was a significant exponent of solo setār playing; his performances encouraged interest in the instrument among a younger generation of players.
In Baluchistan, the setār (also tanburag) is a larger instrument with one low string and a double course tuned a 4th higher. It serves solely as a rhythmic drone for the singing of bards (pahlavān) or to accompany other instruments, notably the sorud.
In Central Asia, the sato or satār is a large version of the Central Asian tanbur. It has three or four metal playing strings, between eight and 12 sympathetic strings and about 16 tied frets. It is held vertically and is usually played with a bow but may occasionally be plucked with a plectrum. The Uzbek sato has three drone strings, while the Uighur satār has 10–12 sympathetic strings. For discussion of the tanbur in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, see Tanbūr.
The setār (sehtār, saitār) of Kashmir is a long-necked lute of the devotional art-music ensemble sūf yāna kalām (‘Sufic utterance’; see also Santur). It is around 100 cm in length, though older players use a smaller version. The resonator is small in proportion and is composite at the back; an upper wooden shoulder-piece narrows to join the neck and with the main wooden part forms a fairly deep ovoid shell with a ridge at the back. A rare use of wood and gourd has been recorded for the shell. Both types suggest original carvel-building. The table is wooden and carries a deep bridge of the type commonly found on the Indian long lutes. The string holder is inferior. The neck carries a rigid nut and 14 bound gut frets, set to the diatonic major scale through two octaves, or with flattened 3rds or 7ths. The older type of setār has seven metal strings, of which six are tuned in unison to the tonic and the seventh to the dominant; the first two are a double course for the melody, the others drones. A newer type adds two thinner strings, with pegs further down the neck, tuned like the cikārī strings of the Indian sitār. The Kashmiri setār often has a decorative inlay, and is played with a wire plectrum like that of the Indian sitār (see Sitār, fig.1c).
K. Vertkov, G. Blagodatov and E. Yazovitskaya, eds.: Atlas muzïkal'nïkh instrumentov narodov SSSR (Mosocw, 1963, 2/1975 with 4 discs)
N. Caron and D. Safvate: Iran: les traditions musicales (Paris, 1966)
B.C. Deva: The Musical Instruments of India (Calcutta, 1978)
J. During: La musique iranienne: tradition et évolution (Paris, 1984)
J. During and S. Trebinjac: disc notes, Turkestan Chinois/Xinjiang musiques Ouïgoures, OCORA C5590 92 and C55902 93 (1990)
J. During and S. Trebinjac: Introduction à l'étude de la musique Ouïgoure (Bloomington, IN, 1991)
J. Pacholczyk: Sūfyāna mūsīqī: the Classical Music of Kashmir (Berlin, 1996)
JEAN DURING, ALASTAIR DICK
