What is Shourangiz? How to Play Shourangiz?

Shourangiz is a very exotic oriental string instrument. If you’re looking for a special and different instrument to reflect your feelings through music, shourangiz might be the one. It has already been drawing musicians’ attention from all over the world who seeks an exciting adventure to discover. 

What is Shourangiz?

Shourangiz (also known as shurangiz) is a plucked string instrument from Iran. It is a member of lute family. It is a rather newly invented instrument based on setar and tar by Hossain Alizade; a very well- known musician who is mastered setar and tar.

It has a bigger body than setar and completely made out of wood, except for its soundboard has a skin part which inspired by the tar. Shourangiz is a very meaningful word in Farsi. It means “excitement, passion” and it is possible to hear that passion on this beautiful instrument’s strings. The mellowness and volume of this instrument’s sound comes from the combination of animal skin and wood is considered as shourangiz’s trade mark character.

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What are the Features of Shourangiz?

It has a sound range between tar and setar. Shourangiz’s voice is stronger than setar and softer than tar. It has 6 strings which set up in 3 courses in pairs. Although Shourangiz’s main difference between its prototype setar is appeared to be the number of the strings at the first sight, it also has a longer and finer fingerboard which allows more frets on the neck. Its body is bigger than the setar. Unlike the setar, shourangiz’s body is completely made out of wood, but, there is a small skin part on the soundboard and this helps add resonance and make lower notes more audible. This skin part is not as thin as used in the tar, so it would be more durable to climate changes. 

There is also a smaller shourangiz. This small 4 string shourangiz is resembles the setar more than the 6 stringed one. 2 of the strings are placed together in one course, and the rest two of them are placed individually. Smaller shourangiz has also a similar voice range to setar, whereas the large one has the bass voice range. The 6 sting shourangiz can be an octave lower than the setar at times.

How to Play Shourangiz?

Shourangiz’s playing technic is very similar to setar. A proper sitting position holds a great importance; musician should be sitting on a comfortable place with a straight back. It’s usually played by right hand with a half- opened fist on the soundboard by the index finger. Some musicians use their other fingers too. It might take lots of practice time to fully grasp flowing finger movements, so the right hand has to be in a relaxed position. It’s up to musician’s choice to use a finger pick or to play it with finger style, but a vast majority of shourangiz players prefers to use their fingers only.

Shourangiz offers a magical, mysterious and fresh musical experience, have fun discovering the experience!

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