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Santouri Article - Compiled by Pav Verity updated 13 October 2005 |
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All you ever wanted to know about the santouri...........
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Introduction I have been involved in folk music, first Scottish, latterly Balkan, since the 1960's. In 2002 I started playing klezmer, but I did not play any of the traditional "klezmer" instruments (clarinet, fiddle, brass). One possibility was a chromatic hammer dulcimer, or "tsimbl" in Yiddish, which had been in the tradition for hundreds of years, largely dying out early last century. Advice from expert players (Josh Horowitz, on the "klezmer shack" website) was get either a cymbalom (large, loud, very heavy) or a Greek santouri, as the two instruments available in the present-day that relate to the tradition. I live in a top flat, I like (and play) some Greek music, and I preferred the "linear" chromatic layout of the santouri to the "sharps and flats all round the edge" of the cymbalom, so I decided on a santouri. These notes were made before and after I purchased it, from Theophilos Bras, in the autumn of 2003. I am very pleased with his instrument generally, and particularly its appearance, workmanship and tone. (Any reservations are about the moderate volume and long sustain, a fairly long time before tuning stabilised, and some breakage of the top octave of bronze strings).
I have not updated the
general information since 2003 but I have made additions to the
discography.
Information is given in
good faith, but without warranty (so don't sue me...!)
Pav Verity
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What is a santouri?
The santouri is the Greek form of the hammer dulcimer. It covers
over three octaves, is fully chromatic, and is played with a pair of padded
(cotton-wrapped) hammers.
A modern santouri is typically about 1 metre long, and 60 cm wide (and about 15
cm highs over the bridges). The range is normally from a low F (a semitone above
the lowest string of the guitar) rising over three-and-a-half octaves to a high
B. The lowest octave or so of the strings (F to G) are copper wound on steel,
and the rest are phosphor-bronze (from about 0.75 to 0.55 mm diameter).
The layout of the instrument centres on the "treble" bridge, where string
courses are a fifth apart on the left & right side of the bridge, giving a range
from middle c to f# up the right side of the bridge, and g to c'# (& d#) on the
left. Above this, shorter bridges reduce string lengths, giving the upper notes
e' to b'. Down the right side of the instrument are the "basses", from C up to
B, arranged so that the bass C is just to the right of (& below) the c on the
right side of the treble bridge. The "contra-basses" are below the lower end of
the treble bridge, and alternate L & R from F up to B.
Santouri layout chart
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trebles - L of centre bridge |
trebles - R of centre bridge |
basses - down righthand side |
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b |
g’# |
B |
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b’ flat |
g’ |
Bb |
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a’ |
f’# |
A |
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e’ flat |
f’ |
G# |
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d’ |
e’ |
G |
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c’# |
f# |
F# |
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c’ |
f |
F |
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b |
e |
E |
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b flat |
d# /e flat |
D# / E flat |
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a |
d |
D |
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g# |
c# |
C# |
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g |
c |
C |
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B |
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B flat |
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A |
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G# |
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G |
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F# |
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F |
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contra - basses |
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contra-basses |
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What is the santouri used for?
It can play tunes or provide accompaniment with equal facility. There are three
main musical "niches" for it. The first is folk music - songs and dance -
associated with the areas that the santouri is traditionally played in. The
second is revival of "Smyrneika" (the music played by Greeks living in Smyrna in
Asis Minor, now Izmir in Turkey, before the expulsion of around two
million Greeks in 1922) and early "Rebetiko", the music of these refugees when
in Greece, oriental, jagged and painful (very like the "blues"). Rebetiko slowly
became dominated by the bouzouki, sweetened and "Europeanised", and became
modern "popular" Greek music, where an introduction on a traditional instrument
often establishes that the music is "Greek" before ubiquitous
euro-instrumentation gets into full blast...
History and geography
The Greek population was spread over a wide area of the "Ottoman"
empire, prior to various revolts and the slow piecemeal gaining of Greek
independence and establishment of the Greek nation's "homeland". A form of
painful (sometimes voluntary...) "ethnic cleansing" happened (see Louis de
Berniere's novel "Birds without Wings" for a description of this in Asis Minor
around 1922), with musical influences from many areas being brought into
mainland Greece, with these returning populations.
Santouri makers etc.
Dimitris Kofteros ; well known
player, with some knowledge of making santouria - author of book "
The santur/santouri was played by various minorities in the Ottoman empire
(Gypsies, Jews, Greeks and Rumanians/Moldovans; all used or use some form of
hammer-dulcimer/santouri); orthodox Muslims were often dissuaded from musical
activities, leaving them to non-Muslim minorities. There are records of a
Turkish player "Santuri Edhem Bey" from the early part of last century, but
santouri subsequently died out completely in Turkey (probably because of its
inability to manage all the complicated non-tempered pitches in turkish
classical music?). It survived in Smyrna until the "Great disaster" of 1922, and
is still played on the nearby island of Lesbos, and to a lesser extent on other
eastern Aegean islands (Chios, Imbros, Samos); in the Dodcanese (Rhodes, Kos,
Kalymnos, Nisyros, Leros and Symi); in the Cyclades (Andros). There are also
players on the mainland around Athens, in central and northern Greece (Thessaly,
Ipirus) and the Peloponese. It is not found in Crete or the Ionian islands.
There are also notes of Greek communities with santouri players in New York,
Egypt, etc at various times. There are current (non-Greek) players in the USA,
and several "klezmer" musicians use it as an equivalent of the traditional
Jewish "tsimbl". I know of five santouris in the UK (two in Nonsuch)
Address:-
Dimitris Kofteros Lesvou 41 Galatsi Athens Greece
Dimitris Kofteros Lesvou 41 Galatsi (Athens) Tel 29 27 893
His e-mail is Dimitris Kofteros <dkofte@hotmail.com>
Mamais Spiros - is "apprentice" to Kofteros, makes santouris, and runs a shop for tradition musical instruments in Athens called Yaltiri = Psaltiri, 101m Emm. Benaki Street (fairly central - not to be confused with Benaki Street - some blocks further north). He is the only person who has santouris available "over the counter"! He also has cases - a bit heavy and crude (c 300 Euros?) , but much better than giving your precious new santouri to airline baggage handlers in just a plastic bag!
He replied to my e-mail query- "I am sending some photos sample of my work to you. My santouri are fully handmade and French polished with shellac. The prices start from 1200 Euro excluded VAT 18% (with VAT = 1416 Euro = c. £900) .I am at your disposal for any questions you may have. Weight about 8.6 kilos- lowest note usually G (basses G to B - 50 strings - F and F# an optional extra) Address Em Benaki 101, 10681 Athens Tel 0103304198"
Less of an established maker than Bras; also makes hard cases, and a new "treble"santouri, an octave higher than traditional and slightly smaller. Winds his own strings.
Theophilo Bras, Nikitara 90, Ierovouno, Kamatero, (a remote suburb - metro [beware pickpockets!!] and taxi) Athens, Greece
"Bras obviously prefers making concert models but he will happily do basic ones. (He offered to do a second one for us for anything from £500 pounds upwards.) There are other makers (at most 3) but they are unlikely to be any better and the one in northern Greece is much more expensive. Overall, we are delighted with our model. Even for what we paid (£8-900), the finished product has a lot more artistry and quality than you would get for that price from a UK dulcimer-maker. For Balkan/Levantine music (and English modes) it is brilliant. The only thing you have to bear in mind is that, like the cimbalom, it is loud and, by design, there is a lot of sustain."
A UK owner of a Bras santouri ( prices quoted are from several years ago).
Another owner of a Bras santouri is Jon Banks who plays in "The Burning Bush" - the UK's professional "Klezmer" group. There are several CDs by them, although the santouri is not generally very prominent.
I went to see Bras on 6th September 2002. (He speaks virtually no English; my Greek is basic but we managed to communicate. He can bring in friends to translate, and players to demonstrate an instrument). He builds various instruments, right from scratch (rather than buying in - e.g. - ready made body shells for bouzoukis). From some conversations with other Greek musicians his instruments seem to be well thought of. He is unlikely to have instruments ready for sale. In my case, he had just started an instrument; he was willing to give it priority if I put down a cash deposit of c 10%. The deal was "I'll finish it - come back and see it. If you like it you pay the balance - if you don't want it I will give you the deposit back". I rang him at the end of September and the instrument was ready so I went to see it on the 2nd of October. He had a player (Tassos, by name) come along to demonstrate it. I decided to take it, getting the balance of the cash (total price 1500 Euros) from a cash machine about 15 minutes drive away, which he took me to. (The hiccup was that this particular machine would only issue it in 400€ dollops, and only one such per card per day - fortunately, with 2 cards, and 600€ that I had got from a different machine the previous day, I managed to produce the money!). The price included a tuning key and sticks. (He also makes a "cymbalom layout" model which costs c 500 Euro more)
Cases are not immediately available, and tend to be heavy and c 25% of the cost of the instrument. Fortunately, Olympic say that they have a "carry on board" policy for musical instruments, so the santouri (wrapped in bubble-wrap and cardboard, with an improvised handle from 4 metres of nylon webbing that I bought) was fairly safe. At 100 cm long and 50 cm wide it fitted neatly into the base of an "Airbus" overhead locker. British Midland were not so helpful - they allowed me to take it to the gate, with "Fragile" labels on it, where it was handed over to ground staff to load. It turned up as the last item on the belt at Edinburgh, and it had been hit so hard that the lowest 5mm steel tuning pin had been bent 18 degrees out of line… fortunately there was little damage to the surrounding wood!
Vitzilaiou There is another maker, reputedly a bit cheaper - less well known - I know nothing about his quality. He is in Galatsi, (near the 608 bus route and not far from Konstantellos) - tel Athens 21 35 995.
Stylianos M Skenteridis A musical instrument shop c 150 m from the Piraeus Metro station (Alipedou 12 tel 41 77 556; visible from the left of the train as you arrive) offered to make a santouri in a month, for 1500 E for a student model or 3000 for a ""concert" one. (This would seem to be almost the standard price!) His visible instruments (bouzouki etc) seemed fine but I have no idea of his quality. Another dealer by the railway line 150 m further back has a hammer dulcimer in the window! However, it is cheaper, because it is a hackbrett imported from Germany… (dammit!)
Dimitrios Konstantellos sells components, strings etc. They can be obtained from:-
78/80 Parnithos tel 20 21 235 and 29 16 273 (times 9.00 to siesta and 5.30 - 10.00 with 9.00- 10.30 on Saturday) Take bus 622 from Panepistimou and get off at stop Ipirou. He can wind strings to specification, but is not willing to advise on string sizes etc; if you know what you need he can make it for you.
There is an instrument making school in Kastoria - examples of their work (outi, tsouras etc- beautifully finished, but reputedly expensive) can be seen in the shop at the Musical Instrument Museum in the Plaka (1 Diogenous Street - well worth seeing - large and detailed English language book - by Fivos Anoyianakis - available). They are said to make santouris also.There are some second-hand instruments, but very few; wear on tuning pins would be the biggest worry. A Dutch source (favouring 2nd-hand instruments because they have "more soul") commented
"Bidayalas (a famous self-taught player)
About bidayalas: his official name is nikos kalaitzis, now you know him, he is is his seventies, he has 5 sandouris in athens, they like to sell one (not the best one of course). his wife likes to make you pay a big amount. telefone: athens 2473558, lesbos in summertime, skala vasilikon 0252-71049, or 0945-975877 (mobile phone?), a beautiful place with a restaurant with nice food, but the people are quite money focused".
If you happen to be an Australian, there is an Australian maker who makes a wide variety of instruments and has made santouris. A search on her name and "dulcimer" should produce her informative web-site. Address is:-
Gillian Alcock
25 Woodgate Street
Farrer ACT 2607
Australia.
This information is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but is offered "without warranty" - if any of it is critical, make your own checks on what I have written. Quotes are anonymous, as I have not asked their authors for permission.
Pav Verity
PS Pronunciation - the Greek characters for “nt” actually make a “D” sound, so although “santouri” is a literal transliteration of the Greek characters, it would normally be pronounced “saddouri” by most Greek speakers…
Santouri Discography
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Artist (s) |
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RECOMMENDED... |
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Dimitris Kofteros |
Skopoi and xoroi apo tin Lesbos |
ISBN 960-85560-9-0 |
Hardback book with 60 pp, in Greek, english and nusic notation including the 13 tunes on the enclosed CD - very useful |
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Nikos Kalaintzis “Bidayalas” |
Mytilinia kai Smyrneika |
AEM 009 |
20 tracks and 66.30 mins; rough singing voice |
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Nikos Kalaintzis “Bidayalas” |
The Greek folk Instruments - Vol 2 - Sandouri |
EMI FM 679 |
One of an excellent series “The Greek Folk Instruments” 16 tracks; booklet informative ; 56 min. - an essential |
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Nikos Karatasos |
Santouri |
PME 134 |
One of a useful series “History of Greek Music” 15 tracks. 47 min.- little information |
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Nikos Karatasos |
“Autoskedhiasmos” - improvisation |
K.M.. 103 |
Tunes and taximia on solo santouri and cymbalom - particularly good on improvisations |
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Aristides Moschos |
Great Solos 3. Santouri |
LP EMI 14C 064-70818 |
Famous player (now dead). Confusing front cover on CD shows pink kanonaki/kanun on orange background - a very Greek mistake… |
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Aristides Moschos |
S’agapo yiati eise orea (I love you because you are fine) |
Athenaeum 154 |
11 tracks -Presumably a CD reissue of LP or other earlier recordings? |
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Aristides Moschos & the “Laiko Skoleio” |
various |
2 CDs |
These are re-issues of LPs. Moschos founded the “laiki skoleo” for popular/folk music; the snag with these recordings is that they feature large groups from the school, in which the santouri of Moschos is only intermittently and slightly audible - his name seems included as a “selling point”. |
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Tasos Diakoyiorgis |
Nisiotiko (= “of the islands”) santouri |
Alcyon CD 19005 |
Tunes from the Dodecanese islands, Cyprus and Crete; very tight and integrated “ensemble” arrangements, but santouri well audible |
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Tasos Diakoyiorgis |
Santouri |
MBI 10732 |
Traditional tunes from the islands, Cyprus and Asia Minor, discreet accompaniments; 11 tracks 33.05 min |
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Various |
Lesvos Aiolis; Songs and Dances |
C.U.P 9 & 10 |
Beautifully and lovingly produced 2-CD set on the music of Lesvos, with 330pp booklet in Greek and English; around half the tracks include santouri. |
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Marios Papadeas |
“Ena aman ki ena santouri” |
M.C. 1968 |
“Music Corner” (56 Panepistimiou, Athens) is recommended as a well-organised shop for traditional music. This CD under their own label is of a young player (sometimes seen busking in Athens): he started studying under Diakoyiorgis when he was 7. It gives information on where he was playing in May 2004. (Don’t try to imitate his playing too closely - either he double tracks on the CD or has four arms…) |
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Marika Papagika |
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to be investigated.. |
A famous early “Rebetika” singer (1890-1943) - her husband was a “cembalo” (=cymbalom) player, but it seems reasonable to assume that the musical content of his accompaniments is similar to santouri of the period (with a deeper bass range) |
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OF INTEREST….. |
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Christos Papoutsy |
santouri taxim |
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Available for $5.00 from the Hellenic and Near Eastern Musical society PO box 701 Rye Beach NH 03871 “25 minutes of santouri taxim with violin accompaniment”…. It is actually 10.5 mins with a large and syrupy orchestral background… about as westernised as oriental music can get. The occasional violin/santouri duo is the best bit… |
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Aristides Moschos and Laiko Skoleio Paradhosiakis Mousikis |
Aristeides Moschos - ta Paradhosiaka (“the traditions”) |
LP SNR-1278 |
At least two LPs/CDs with this group - the santouri is rarely audible or prominent in a large group of players (the Folk School of Traditional Music). Perhaps Moschos’s name is being used prominently to sell the CD. |
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Ellines Akrites = Greek guardians (of culture) series |
Chios, Mytilene etc - vol 1
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FM801
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Some santouri playing by Kalaintsis as part of the Hellenic Music Archives Ensemble, but it is not prominent; well presented with booklets. |
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Ellines Akrites = Greek guardians (of culture) series |
Smyrna, and Ionian coast - vol 3? |
FM 803 |
As above |
Santouri, “Rembetika” music… and folk music.
Many sources and organisations present “bouzouki” music as being Greek folk music… but it is not. (Well, no more than Dolly Parton and Boxcar Willy are folk music…) What is going on? Before February 1922, Greek village folk music consisted mainly of bands using some combination of violin or lyra, clarinet, laouto (big fretted lute) or ‘ud (Turkish/Arab unfretted lute), santouri, drums, or sometimes zournas (loud folk shawm) and drum; this is still seen as folk music.
In February 1922, the Greeks’ attempt to implement the “megali idhea” (great idea) of taking the back the whole of the Mediterranean coast (which they had held 3000 years earlier - rather like Israel and Palestine..?) came to ashes; the initial brutal invasion meant that the Turks dealt brutally with the Christian population in coastal Asia Minor. An exchange of population, based on religious belief, was arranged under the Treaty of Lausanne. Of the 1.4 million or so (mainly Greek-speaking) Christians on the coast not many more than half of them survived, and became urban refugees in an impoverished Greece of 5 million population. These refugees brought Turkish musical forms with them, and the saz - which was to develop into the Greek bouzouki. Their songs are urban songs - love, drugs, sex, poverty, death and the police - harsh and jagged, with a lot in common with the “blues” music of the poor urban blacks in the USA. This is called “rempetika” or “rebetika” (“mp” sounds as a “b”). Over the years it was suppressed, banned, and finally westernised and sweetened (“Theodorakis is to rebetika what Gershwin is to jazz” - discuss for 10 points max.)
The relevance to the santouri? The ancestor of this rebetika music was called “Café Aman” or “Smyrneika” (from Smyrna/Izmir) where both Turks and Greeks used to play santouria. Quite a lot tracks from old pre-1920 78s use santouri, and some of this music has its own archaic charm. Try
“Authentic songs recorded in Smyrna and Constantinople before 1922” Falireas AF 652 or
“Songs of the Café Aman” (meaning songs where singers use “Aman, aman” as a “filler” phrase) 3 CD boxed set FM1322
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Santouri Article - Compiled by Pav Verity |
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