Santoor player Sandip Chatterjee lights a candle along with Saud Ali Al-Sheikhi, director general Ministry of Culture and Information, as Indian Consul General Faiz Ahmad Kidwai and Consul Press, Information and Culture Dr. Irshad Ahmad (extreme right) look on. — SG photo Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH – Four days have passed since Sandip Chatterjee, a disciple of Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya and vocal maestro Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, gave a performance on santoor, an instrument with approximately 100 strings which originated in the Himalayan Valley of Kashmir, yet music aficionados of Jeddah have still not forgotten that memorable musical night. “He kept us mesmerized for hours,” said one of the guests who relished Sandip's performance at the International Indian School Boys Section in Jeddah. Sandip Chatterjee is one of the most talented santoor players of his generation. He was musically inclined from a very tender age. He has successfully performed in several major music festivals in India and abroad and also has collaborated with many overseas musicians across genres such as Jazz, Rock, Contemporary, World Music, Fusion etc. He has lots of audio and video albums to his credit, released by leading companies in India and abroad. Besides being a regular performer for All India Radio and Television, he has also composed and arranged music for media like cinema and documentaries. His expertise has also been utilized by renowned music directors like A.R.Rahaman, Jatin Lalit, Gulsan Kumar, Rabindra Jain, Pt.V.Balsara etc. The musical talent and virtuosity exhibited by Sandip over the years have been recognized by many awards such as, President of India Award, Jadubhatta Award, Sangeeth Ratna Award etc. Originally known as “Shata Tantri Veena” (Sanskrit version of one hundred strings), santoor has close relatives in British & American “Hammer Dulcimer,” Chinese “Yang Chin” and the East European “Cimbalom.” An instrument, which at the same breath could give the audiences a feel of melody and rhythm naturally, had much to offer in terms of musicality. The emergence of Santoor as a popular Indian classical instrument has of course been due to the presence of stalwart Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. However, its roots are necessarily from the Durbars of Sufi heretics of Kashmir, where its folk origins were interspersed with Hindustani classical music. The acoustic Santoor consist of finely finished trapezium shaped box, with metal strings running across the top. The strings are usually grouped in three strings per note, called course. Each of the courses is supported by a small bridge, which alternate either side of the top. Each course sounded by striking it with a pair of wooden mallets. Usually, the tonic (can be mentioned as pitch) of the conventional Santoor is D (440) and it resonates the beautiful melodic sound which has similarity with Jaltarang, Xylophone and Harp. It always attracts listeners by its captivating sound quality and so for that it has widely used in film music of India.
