The Santoor: Kashmir's Hundred Stringed Instrument
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The santoor, a trapezoidal instrument strung with dozens of fine metal strings and played by striking them lightly with a pair of small wooden mallets, has long been associated with the musical culture of Kashmir. Traditionally used to accompany Sufi devotional singing in the region, its bright, shimmering tone gives it a character quite distinct from other stringed instruments in the wider classical repertoire.
Adapting the santoor to formal classical performance required considerable technical development, since its construction made sustained notes and subtle pitch bending, both central to raga performance, genuinely difficult to achieve. Musicians who took on that challenge across the twentieth century expanded its playing technique substantially, allowing the instrument to carry extended melodic lines rather than only rhythmic, percussive patterns.
Today the santoor holds a firm place within Hindustani classical music, valued for a tone that manages to feel both delicate and resonant at once, evoking the mountainous region from which it originates. Its continued popularity reflects a broader pattern in Indian music, where a folk or regional instrument gradually earns a respected place on the concert stage.