Last Maker of Traditional Kashmiri Musical Instrument Tightens Strings of Each Santoor With Twinge of Sorrow

SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR – Fading black-and-white photographs of Kashmir’s legendary musicians cover the rough mud walls of a small workshop. Old musical instruments line shelves, and new ones fill display cases. Iron tools, wood shavings and dust cover the floor.

This is the workshop of Ghulam Muhammad Zaz, 70, a traditional Kashmiri instrument-maker in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir. Zaz is renowned for making the Kashmiri santoor, a trapezoidal instrument with 100 steel strings stretched across a body made of walnut wood.

Seated on the floor of his workshop, Zaz adjusts the tuning knobs of a recently made santoor to attain a perfect note. The instrument first emits a high-pitched noise, but the tone becomes smooth and melodic as Zaz adjusts the knobs.

“I am the only santoor-maker left in my family as well as in Kashmir,” Zaz says, looking down at his hands as he adjusts the strings.

Zaz belongs to the eighth generation of instrument-makers in his family, the only family that has ever made the Kashmiri santoor. The Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, a Srinagar-based government organization that promotes art and culture and coordinates related activities throughout the state, confirms his assertion.

No one in the Zaz family knows how or why it began making the Kashmiri santoor, but by the time Zaz’s grandfather was making it, Zaz knew it was a family tradition.

Zaz mourns the fact that he has no one to whom he can pass on the tradition.

“My ancestral art is likely to die with me,” he says, with tears in his eyes. “There is no one left in our family who knows this work other than me.” 

Persian invaders introduced the santoor to the Kashmir Valley, one of the three divisions of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir state, in the 14^th century, says Fida Hassnain, a Kashmiri historian and author who focuses on the people of the Kashmir Valley.

The Kashmiri santoor is distinctive. There are two other types – the Persian, which has 72 strings, and the Indian, which has 87 to 100 strings.

The Kashmiri santoor is essential to traditional Kashmiri folk music and Sufi music – the devotional music of Sufism, a mystical way of life in the Islamic tradition. Both kinds of music are integral to contemporary celebrations and rituals, Hassnain says.

Zaz says his ancestors began making the Kashmiri santoor about 200 years ago.

Zaz never intended to follow the family tradition, he says. But when he was 16, he contracted typhoid and missed school for six months. After his health improved, he worked with his father in the instrument workshop instead of returning to his studies.

Zaz’s father taught him to create instruments relying solely on memory and experience.

“We have learned the craft by heart,” Zaz says. “Even a minute change in measurement when making a santoor would spoil its musical tones and the ability to produce exact Kashmiri music.”

Kashmiri masters of Indian classical music have used santoors created by the Zaz family.

“Maestros like Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pandit Bhajan Sopori bought their santoors from us,” Zaz says. “They have produced music that has showcased our rich heritage and culture throughout the world.”

The Zaz family creates instruments of exceptional quality, says Muhammad Yusuf Bieg, a Srinagar santoor player who performs throughout Jammu and Kashmir and in India.

“Their instruments survive for years as they make quality instruments which produce soothing music,” Bieg says. 

Zaz says the Kashmiri santoors made by his family last for more than 100 years. Bieg has three Kashmiri santoors made by the Zaz family. The oldest is 40 years old.

Gulzar Ahmed Shah, owner of Shah Trades and Travels Showroom, has been selling instruments made by the Zaz family for more than 15 years. Shah, who owns three stores in India, sells Kashmiri santoors made by Zaz because he considers their quality unmatched.

But Zaz says back pain and weakening eyesight have forced him to cut back his hours and limit the number of orders he accepts.

Shah admires the craftsman for continuing to ply his trade.

“Despite ill health, Zaz is still carrying forward the craft,” Shah says at his Srinagar shop. 

Zaz says he loves the music his santoors produce, and crafting the instrument brings him joy. He is proud to see the impact his instruments have had on the Kashmiri music community.

“The instruments are very dear to my heart,” Zaz says. “Santoors are very precious for the music-makers as well as the music industry. I feel that my family and I are very fortunate to have been able to contribute to this industry through our instruments. I can't think what my life would be without working on the santoor.”

The Kashmiri community recognizes the void Zaz will leave in the local music industry.

“The Kashmiri santoor will become extinct after him,” Shah says. “There is no one who can carry forward this craft with such skill. His death will be a great loss to Sufi and classical music lovers both in Kashmir as well as outside."

Zaz’s only sibling is his younger brother, who never learned the craft, and Zaz has no sons to carry on the family trade. Although the family permits women to learn the trade, instrument-making has traditionally been the province of men.

Over the years, Zaz has had four or five apprentices who were not family members, but they did not stick with the painstaking process.

Yousuf Ahmad, 38, apprenticed with Zaz in 2005 but left after five days because the work was difficult and he saw how long it would take to learn the craft. He now works as a mason.

“My eyes were aching, and I developed back pain,” Ahmad says. “I also don’t have so much energy or patience to work so intricately for hours on only one instrument."

It takes Zaz about two months to make a Kashmiri santoor. He can make other classical Indian musical instruments in 15 days or so.

The santoors that Zaz makes sell for 20,000 rupees ($335) or more. His other instruments sell for less than half that.

Many musicians, including Bieg, say they will continue to use the Zaz instruments they own.

“But musicians who want new instruments will have to buy the santoor from other Indian states,” Bieg says.

Zaz says the Kashmiri santoor style will most likely end with him. He is sad but resigned to this destiny.

“I will carry this legacy forward till my last breath,” Zaz says. “The craft is very dear to me.”

GPJ translated some interviews from Kashmiri and Urdu.