Setar | Musical Instrument Guide (with Kiya Tabassian)

When Kiya Tabassian was 11 years old, back in Iran, he went to a setar duo recital – two students of Hossein Alizadeh doing their final university exam. “I was so attracted by the sound of the instrument and what they could do,” he recalls, “that a week later I started my lessons. From the moment I took this instrument in my hands, I knew it was a lifetime road unfolding.”

Tabassian was born in Iran, but now lives in Montréal, Canada where he leads the impressive group Constantinople, bringing Persian music together with musicians from around the globe. But as a soloist he’s appearing in February next year at a Songlines Encounters Festival concert with Kayhan Kalhor in a setar duo – the combination that turned him on to the instrument in the first place.  

Both Tabassian and Kalhor have setars made by the same craftsman, Yadollah Goudarzi, who is based near Tehran. “He is one of those luthiers who makes not many instruments, but of very high quality. I got my setar ten or 12 years ago and when I held it in my hands it had an amazing combination of qualities. An instrument is a question of sound, touch, resonance and all this chemistry that happens in an instrument when you are plucking it. The weight and the way you can easily go up and down the neck of the instrument – so many different qualities, physical and sonic. This had all these qualities in the same instrument.” 

Tabassian couldn’t go to Iran at that time so it was selected for him by Kayhan Kalhor, who is also a great admirer of Goudarzi. So, at the Kings Place concert for Songlines Encounters Festival, they’ll both be playing instruments by the same maker. “Every instrument sounds different and for sure it’s a combination of the character of the instrument and the personality of the player,” Tabassian explains. “I have a very different sound to Kayhan. If I play his setar or he takes mine, they sound quite different.”

Setar in Persian means ‘three strings,’ which is what the instrument originally had, although the lower string has been doubled for the last 200 years, so now the instrument actually has four strings, but is only tuned to three notes. The instrument is quite small and has an incredibly intimate and expressive sound. The slightest movement affects the note dramatically. In performance it’s like a window on the heart. 

“This depth comes from the fact that it’s so close and almost becomes part of your body. I feel the resonance in my chest.” Given the intricacy and complexity of the music, it’s amazing to discover that it’s just played with the nail of the index finger. Tabassian holds up his right hand to show me his extremely long nail. “The technique is quite complex and gives an infinite opportunity to play very different patterns on all the strings, so the index finger becomes a real athlete.” 

When Tabassian moved to Montréal in 1990, aged 14, he heard about Kayhan Kalhor, an Iranian musician then living in Ottawa who came to Montréal quite regularly. Although Kalhor is primarily a kamancheh (spike fiddle) virtuoso he plays many Persian instruments and teaches several others. They had lessons together for more than a year. “When he started his international career we didn’t see each other for many years,” says Tabassian. “But he was still a kind of mentor from afar. He was very inspiring for me and I learned a lot from him, even without being beside him.” 

But the instrument itself is also a kind of teacher. “The setar itself cannot speak but it has a personality inside, and the instrument itself will say how to make ideas resonate – so it’s a very deep relationship with the instrument.”

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2021 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe today

Kiya Tabassian & Kayhan Kalhor will make their UK debut as a duo at Kings Place on February 17, see kingsplace.co.uk