What is a santoor?

A santoor is a hammered dulcimer from Kashmir: a trapezoid walnut box with about a hundred strings. Twenty-five wooden bridges carry the strings in sets of four, and the player tunes each set to one note, so one stroke sounds four strings together.

The player sits with the santoor in front and strikes the strings with two light wooden mallets. A struck string cannot bend, so the player suggests a glide with fast strokes on neighbouring bridges. The santoor accompanied Sufiana Mausiqi, the Sufi music of Kashmir, until Pandit Shivkumar Sharma brought it to the classical concert stage.