Setar in the context of "Sitar"

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⭐ Core Definition: Setar

A setar (Persian: سه‌تار, pronounced [seˈt̪ʰɒːɾ]) (lit: "Three Strings") is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur 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 Mushtaq Ali Shah by the mid 19th century. It is played with the index finger of the right hand.

It has been speculated that the setar originated in Persia by the 9th century AD A more conservative estimate says "it originated in the 15th century, or even earlier."

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👉 Setar in the context of Sitar

The sitar (English: /ˈsɪtɑːr/ or /sɪˈtɑːr/; IAST: sitāra) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of the Mughal Empire, has been identified by modern scholarship as the inventor of the sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin.

Used widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became popularly known in the wider world through the works of Ravi Shankar, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The advent of psychedelic culture during the mid-to-late 1960s set a trend for the use of the sitar in Western popular music, with the instrument appearing on tracks by bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica and many others.

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Setar in the context of History of lute-family instruments

Lutes are stringed musical instruments that include a body and "a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body".

The lute family includes not only short-necked plucked lutes such as the lute, oud, pipa, guitar, citole, gittern, mandore, rubab, and gambus and long-necked plucked lutes such as banjo, tanbura, bağlama, bouzouki, veena, theorbo, archlute, pandura, sitar, tanbur, setar, but also bowed instruments such as the yaylı tambur, rebab, erhu, and the entire family of viols and violins.

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Setar in the context of Mushtaq Ali Shah

Mirza Mohammad Torbati ( میرزا محمد تربتی), better known as Mushtaq Ali Shah (مشتاق علی شاه) was a Sufi mystic and a Muslim musician who was martyred for playing his instrument in 1792. Shah was a member of the Nimatullahi Order of Sufis, and a majdhoub, who attracted Ismailis and others when he sang and played his setar. Majdhoubs were "spiritual men whose mental faculties are as it were paralyzed or confused by the effect of the Divine attraction" and got "divinely intoxicated" when they performed. Shah disregarded the conventions of his day, and was accused of "singing and playing the call to prayer at the Jum'ah Masjid on 27th Ramadan (19 May) 1792, and was stoned to death.

In another account, he was accused of "reciting the Qur'an with the sound of a setar" by Mullah Mohammad Taqi (ملا محمد تقی), a mujtahid."

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← History of lute-family instruments ← Sitar ← Mushtaq Ali Shah
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Persian language → String (music) → Stringed instrument → Lute → Persian traditional music → Tanbur → Octave → Mushtaq Ali Shah → Index finger → Persia →