The tar (Persian: تار [t̪ʰɒːɹ], lit. 'string') is an Iranian long-necked, waisted instrument in the lute family, used by many cultures and countries in the Middle East and the Caucasus, including Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Tajikistan, and Turkey.[1][2][3]
It was originally known as the chahartar (چهارتار) or chartar (چارتار), which translates into Persian as 'four-stringed'. This is in accordance with a practice common in Persian-speaking areas of distinguishing lutes on the basis of the number of strings originally employed.
Beside the chartar,[4] these include the dutar (دوتار; 'two-stringed'), setar (سهتار; 'three-stringed'), panjtar (پنجتار; 'five-stringed'), and the shashtar (ششتار; 'six-stringed').
It was revised into its current sound range in the 18th century[5] and has since remained one of the most important musical instruments in Iran and the Caucasus, particularly in Persian music, while Azerbaijani music uses the Azerbaijani tar. It is the favoured instrument for radifs and mughams.
The strings of the Persian tar
It has three courses of double "singing" strings (each pair tuned in unison: the first two courses in plain steel, the third in wound copper), that are tuned root, fifth, octave (C, G, C), plus one "flying" bass string (wound in copper and tuned to G, an octave lower than the singing middle course) that runs outside the fingerboard and passes over an extension of the nut. Every String has its own tuning peg and are tuned independently.
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.
Modes of play
The instrument is held high on the breast, plucked at the centre of the body using a small brass plectrum known in Persian/Azerbaijani as a mezrab/mizrab. That is held in the right hand and used in a combination of upstrokes (alt) and downstrokes (üst) along with occasional tremolos in both directions. Meanwhile the notes are selected by the placing of the fingers of the left hand, with notes sometimes bent by a motion of the placed finger as in blues guitar.
The addition of an unplucked note as a trill on top of the plucked bass note is known in Azerbaijani as lal barmaq – literally "muted finger".,[9] while a somewhat similar effect called jirmag is achieved by using the fingernail to strike the string. This gives a more poignant 'scratching' sound.[10]
