I'm not sure what made you bring up the tar, as the site shows him as a master of some variety of bouzouki, presumably the Kurdish equivalent... Nor am I sure about Roman's enthousiastic endorsement of your suggestion
1) "tar" is the Farsi for cord or wire. By extension it is the name for the instrument which they regard as their most indigenous. Others are imported from the Arab world, like the oud (derived, apparently from the Iranian barbat), the qanun, etc. 2) This instrument has six strings, but in three courses. Perhaps more interesting, its carved body has a figure of eight waist, which makes it look a bit like a small guitar in the body, although it has a skin instead of a soundboard, and the neck is disproportionately long in guitar terms. (One reference I found on the net explains that the handle is attached to the bowel [sic]) 3) It resembles in no way the Iranian/Afghani setar, which means three strings, although it now has four... or the dotar (two strings), which now has two strings (having abandoned the race) - these are both much more saz-like, veering toward the bouzouki. 4) The Indian sitar (which would mean thirty strings in Farsi), only uses one for the tune, although there are six drones and 11 symps. This gives eighteen, which isn't "si" in any language I know. 5) On the basis of centum and satem languages, setar could give ketar. 6) The main problem with kithara is that unlike all the rest, it doesn't seem to be a box with a stick. It is however a place that Baudelaire went to, either on a 25g cannabis sandwich or an opium dream, both of which would confirm the link with Iran. 7) What we really need to bear in mind is the volume, for some are laouda, and others remain quietar. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 9:52 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Nigel North on CGA! > Some pretty good music from Kurdistan : > http://www.issahassan.com/musique/chahnazeen5.mp3 . I am not a > specialist but it sounds to me like the guy knows what he is doing. > Could the Iranian "tar" be the origin of the Greek "khitarra"? Maybe > with the same phonetic absorption of the leading article, like "el oud" > becoming "lute" or "luth"? > Alain > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
