The Tar

Welcome back everyone to another week of musical exploration! Last time we took a look at one of my personal favorites the HuLuShi, originally from the outskirts of China.

 This week I figured it would be a good idea to make our way into the Persian Gulf, a cultural hotspot. It is home to UNESCO Heritage Sites such as the Persepolis and the Chogha Zanbil, just to name a few. The instrument that we will spend our time getting to know is called the Tar. Tar in the Persian language means string. For those who have never seen one of these before, it looks like a guitar. The Tar (or Lute) has been said to have evolved from various different forms with the current edition having been introduced in the 18^th century.

The instrument is primarily played in Iran, the Caucasian countries (will explain later) and central Asia. The Caucasian countries include the likes of Azerbaijian, Armenia, Georgia, etc. In Iran, the Tar is considered to be the “sultan of instruments” which explains its popularity throughout the country.

What is it made of? The Persian tar is carved from mulberry wood and has a curved figure similar to two bowls attached to each other, with lamb-skin covering the top. The Tar consists of two parts for its sound box, the smaller called the Naghaareh and the large part called the Kaasseh. The fingerboard of the Tar has twenty-five to twenty-eight adjustable gut frets as well as three double courses of strings. A gut fret is a raised element on the heck of the instrument and extends across the full width of the neck.

What does is contain? The main part of the instrument that differs from the guitar is its neck. Instead of the short and narrow neck we are accustomed to seeing, the Tar has a considerably long and narrow neck. There are three courses of double strings (known as singing strings) where each course is tuned in unison. An interesting part to know is that not all three courses are made from the same materials. In fact, two courses are made out of plain steel and the third out of wound copper. In addition, there are also two pairs of shorter sympathetic strings that run under the bass and over two small copper bridges about midway on the upper side of the fingerboard. Each variable is tuned to the performer’s specifications. Similar to the guitar, the strings each have its own tuning peg and could be tuned independently for each respective song. The Persian tar used to have five strings. The sixth string was added to the tar by Darvish Khan. This string is today's fifth string of the Iranian tar.

Music Therapy? With the wide reaching sounds the instrument is able to achieve, the Tar has been considered to have contributed greatly to musical therapy. The musical melodies that are performed by the Tar have been known to cure headaches, insomnia, and depression paving the way for a full relaxation.

Whew! That was a tiring expedition we had there in getting to know the Tar. Until next time !