Setar

Overview

The setar is a long-necked plucked lute of Iran (Persia), with a small pear-shaped body, a long fretted neck and four strings. Its name means literally “three strings” (se = three, tar = string), but the modern instrument has four — the name has been preserved despite the change in the instrument’s structure. The setar is the smallest, quietest and most intimate of the Iranian classical lutes, traditionally played for solo or small chamber settings, and it has a particular association with Sufi music and contemplative repertoire.

Wikidata describes the setar as a “Persian plucked musical instrument with three strings,” classed as a lute and a plucked string instrument. The MET catalogues its specimens as Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted.

Origin & History

The setar developed in Persia during the late medieval and early modern period as one of a family of long-necked lutes that includes the tar, the tanbur, the dotar and several regional variants. The instrument is documented in Persian sources from at least the 16th century and probably has earlier roots in the wider Persian and Central Asian long-necked-lute family.

The most distinctive event in the setar’s history is the addition of its fourth string. The modern fourth string (called the bam or low string) was added during the 1700s by the Sufi master Moshtaq Ali Shah, a religious figure of the Ne’matollahi Sufi order who was killed in Kerman in 1791. This is one of the most precisely documented modifications of any traditional Iranian instrument: the player, the date and the religious-cultural context are all attested. Despite the addition the original three-string name has been preserved, and the modern setar still goes by the original name.

The Metropolitan Museum’s collection holds two related instruments. A Persian setar of the 19th century (object 500954) is built of wood, bone and wire, donated through the Crosby Brown Collection in 1889. A late-19th-century Uzbek or Tajik chartar (object 503638) — literally “four strings” — is built of wood, bone, wire and mother-of-pearl. Both are catalogued as Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted, and the chartar’s name is the explicit Persian-Tajik reflection of the setar’s structural change to four strings.

In the 20th century the setar has been carried into the international concert circuit by major players including Ahmad Ebadi, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh and Dariush Talai, all of whom have established the instrument’s place in modern Iranian classical music alongside the santur, ney and tar.

Construction & Materials

The setar body is small — around 30 centimetres long and 17 cm wide — and pear-shaped, with a thin wooden soundboard and a back built up from narrow ribs. The most common tonewoods are mulberry (for the body) and walnut (for the neck and pegbox). The neck is around 50 cm long, slim, and carries between twenty-five and twenty-eight gut frets, lashed around the neck with movable gut wrappings — meaning the player can shift each fret to fine-tune the intonation for the specific gushe (modal phrase) being performed.

The four strings (now usually steel and bronze) are tuned in a re-entrant pattern: a high zir, a low bam, a middle jor, and a high moshtaq (named after the Sufi master who added it). The exact tuning varies by tradition, but a common arrangement is C-G-c-c.

The MET’s Persian specimen (object 500954) and the related Uzbek-Tajik chartar (object 503638) document standard late-19th-century Iranian and Central Asian construction.

How It’s Played

The player sits cross-legged on the floor with the small body of the setar resting on the right thigh and the long neck angled upward to the left. The defining technical feature is that the right hand plucks the strings with the fingernail of the index finger only — the peneh, in Persian — striking the strings with both upward and downward strokes in rapid alternation. This single-fingernail technique is unique to the setar within the wider Iranian and Central Asian lute family, and gives the instrument its characteristic light, shimmering attack.

The left hand stops the strings against the gut frets. Skilled players use the movable frets to adjust the koron (quarter-flat) and sori (quarter-sharp) intervals that are central to Persian dastgah modal practice — every performance involves small fret adjustments to fit the specific mode being played.

The two-and-a-half octave range, the small body, and the single-finger plucking technique together produce the setar’s intimate, quiet sound — much softer than the louder tar and well suited to small solo or duo performance contexts.

Cultural Significance

The setar holds a particular place in Iranian classical music as the instrument of contemplative, meditative and Sufi-influenced repertoire. Its small body and quiet sound make it a personal instrument rather than a performance one, and many of the great masters of the 20th century have spoken of the setar as the instrument they play for themselves at home rather than for an audience.

The Sufi association — established through the Moshtaq Ali Shah lineage in the 18th century — has continued strongly. Several leading 20th-century setar masters have been formally affiliated with Iranian Sufi orders, and the instrument retains a meditative spiritual character that the more public tar and santur do not.

In modern concert practice the setar has nonetheless taken its place alongside the other Iranian classical instruments, and players such as Hossein Alizadeh have built international concert careers on it.

Notable Examples & Recordings

The MET’s Persian setar (object 500954) and the related Uzbek-Tajik chartar (object 503638) are documented in the Musical Instruments department.

For listening:

• Ahmad Ebadi, Setar Solos — central archival recordings of the leading mid-20th-century master.
• Hossein Alizadeh, Raz-o-Niaz — modern leading player and composer for the instrument.
• Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Setar Recital — major late-20th-century player in the Sufi-influenced tradition.
• Dariush Talai, Persian Improvisation — contemporary virtuoso player with extensive international touring.

Related Instruments

• Tar – the larger Iranian classical lute that is the setar’s principal companion in Persian classical music.
• Tanbur – the older Persian and Central Asian long-necked lute family.
• Sitar – the North Indian long-necked lute that takes its name from the same Persian sitar (three strings) root, although the two instruments developed along very different paths.
• Dotar – the Central Asian two-string lute in the same wider family.
• Chartar – the Uzbek-Tajik “four-string” variant, represented by MET object 503638.

Where to Hear It

The Iran House of Music in Tehran, the Vahdat Hall and the annual Fajr Music Festival regularly programme setar performances. Major Iranian classical concerts at the Tehran Symphony Hall and at the Niavaran Cultural Center feature the setar in solo and chamber recitals. The international tours of Hossein Alizadeh, Mohammad Reza Lotfi and the Kamkar Ensemble bring the setar to audiences across Europe, North America and East Asia. Iranian cultural centres in Berlin, Paris, London, Toronto, Los Angeles and Tokyo host regular setar recitals.

• Wikipedia: Setar
• The MET: Setar, Iranian (Persian) (object 500954)
• The MET: Čartār (saz), Uzbek or Tajik (object 503638)

Learning Resources

The setar is taught at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, the University of Tehran’s Faculty of Performing Arts, and through the long-standing master-student lineage tradition of Iranian classical music. Standard tutor materials include the Radif of Mirza Abdollah and the modern publications of Hossein Alizadeh, Dariush Talai and Dariush Pirniakan. Outside Iran, the major Iranian diaspora cultural centres in Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Berlin offer setar instruction. New concert-grade setars by Tehran and Isfahan makers run from approximately 300 to 1,500 USD; high-end instruments by leading luthiers can reach 3,000 USD.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the setar called “three strings” if it has four?
The original setar had three strings. The modern fourth string (the bam, or low string) was added during the 1700s by the Sufi master Moshtaq Ali Shah. The name setar (literally “three strings”) has been preserved despite the structural change.

What is the difference between the setar and the Indian sitar?
The two share the same Persian sitar (three strings) name root but are structurally and musically very different. The Persian setar is small, quiet, has four strings and is played with the index-finger nail. The Indian sitar is much larger, has 18-21 strings (including sympathetic strings), is played with a wire plectrum on the index finger, and is the central plucked-string instrument of Hindustani classical music.

Why does the setar have movable frets?
The frets sit on the neck within movable gut wrappings so that the player can adjust the intonation of each fret for the specific gushe (modal phrase) being performed. Persian classical music uses microtonal intervals (the koron quarter-flat and sori quarter-sharp) that require fine fret adjustment.

Are old setar in museums?
Yes. The Metropolitan Museum holds a 19th-century Persian setar (object 500954) and a closely related late-19th-century Uzbek-Tajik chartar (object 503638), both in the Musical Instruments department.

Why is the setar quieter than other lutes?
The setar’s small pear-shaped body, thin soundboard and single-fingernail plucking technique together produce a soft, intimate sound. The instrument was historically developed for solo or small chamber playing in private settings rather than for large public performance.

What music is the setar used for?
The setar is used in Iranian classical music (particularly the radif repertoire of Mirza Abdollah), in Sufi-influenced contemplative music, and increasingly in modern crossover and international concert programmes.