The santur (also santūr, santour, santoor ) (Persian: سنتور‎) is a Persian hammered dulcimer It is a trapezoid-shaped box often made of walnut or different exotic woods. The Persian classical santur has 72 strings.

The name santur was first referenced in ancient Persian poetry. To date there has never been verifiable evidence what this name actually means, it is just a name and the only meaning it has in the Persian language is this instrument. The oval-shaped Mezrabs (mallets) are feather-weight and are held between the thumb, index and middle fingers. A typical Persian santur has two sets of bridges, providing a range of approximately three octaves. The right-hand strings are made of brass or copper, while the left-hand strings are made of steel.

Two rows of 9 articles called "kharak" (total of 18 kharaks) divide the santur into three positions. Over each bridge crosses four strings spanning horizontally across the right and left side of the instrument. There are three sections of nine pitches: each for the bass, middle and higher octave called Poshte Kharak (behind the left bridges) comprising 27 notes all together. The top "F" note is repeated 2 times, creating a total of 25 separate tones in the Santur. The Persian santur is primarily tuned to a variety of different diatonic scales utilizing quarter tones, which are used in the twelve dastgahs (modes) of Persian classical music.

Ardavan Kamkar (Persian: اردوان کامکار‎; born 1968 in Sanandaj, Iran) is a Iranian-Kurdish musician from Iran. He is a part of the Kamkaran ensemble.

Ardavan Kamkar was born in 1968 in Sanandaj, Iran. He began learning to play the Santur (dulcimer) from his father, Master Hassan Kamkar at age 4. During his childhood years he worked with several Cultural & Art groups and the radio.ardavan sijani,www.sijani.com,Ardavan Sijani,www.sijani.com

In 1979 he moved to Tehran. There, he studied instrumental and vocal Radif (The Persian musical repertory) with his older brother Pashang Kamkar. The traditional style of santur playing, however, did not satisfy his creative and searching soul. He sought to expand the techniques and innovated a modern style for playing this national Iranian instrument. Becoming distinguished as a santur player in Iran after two illustrious generations of traditional masters is no easy feat. Today’s santur players work under the long shadow of great 20th century musicians, including Ostad Faramarz Payvar and younger talents such as Parviz Meshkatian, who not only set the standard for traditional technique but developed much new material for the santur repertoire. That any player could expand or even revolutionize this repertoire is hardly imaginable, but that is what Ardavan Kamkar has accomplished, and at an extraordinarily young age. Born in 1968, Ardavan is undoubtedly one of the most exciting musicians of his generation. His natural musicality, effortless virtuosity and remarkable technical innovations, together with his combination of Persian classical, fold and contemporary elements, have reinvigorated the traditional repertoire and resulted in a playing style that is passionate, versatile and alive.^{[citation needed]}

Parviz Meshkatian (May 15, 1955 – September 21, 2009; Persian: پرويز مشكاتيان) was an Iranian musician, composer, researcher and university lecturer.

Born at Nishapur. Meshkatian entered the Tehran Academy of Arts, where he studied music theory and was introduced to radif (the Persian classical music repertoire) by the masters Nour Ali Boroumand, Dariush Safvat, Mohammad Taghi Massoudieh, and Mehdi Barkeshli. He focused on the radif of Mirza Abdollah for santur and setar.

Meshkatian was one of the founding members of the Aref Ensemble, founded in 1977, and the Sheyda ensemble. He was also one of the founding members of the Chavosh Artistic and Cultural Foundation. The Chavosh foundation has played a major role in the development of Iranian music for a few decades.

Meshkatian toured Europe and Asia and regularly performed in countries such as France, Germany, England, Sweden, Netherlands, and Denmark. In the spring of 1982 he published the book Twenty Pieces for Santour. In spring of 1992 Meshkatian and the Aref Ensemble won the first prize of the Spirit of the Earth Festival in England. Meshkatian's collaboration with Mohammad Reza Shajarian produced some of the most beautiful recordings of contemporary Persian traditional music. While continuing his work as a composer and a researcher, Meshkatian was teaching music at Tehran University.

Imrat Khan (born 17 November 1935) is a leading sitar and surbahar player. He is the younger brother of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan.

Imrat was born in Calcutta into a family of musicians tracing its pedigree back for several generations, to the court musicians of the Mughal rulers. His father was Enayat Khan (1895–1938), recognised as a leading sitar and surbahar player of his time, as had been his grandfather, Imdad Khan (1848–1920), before him. His father died when Imrat was a child, so he was raised by his mother, Bashiran Begum and her father, singer Bande Hassan Khan. In 1944, the family moved with rising star Vilayat Khan, Imrat's elder brother, to Bombay where both the brothers learned extensively from uncle Wahid Khan, Enayat Khan's brother. Wahid Khan was one of the greatest surbahar players of his generation and a top-level sitar player, and taught Imrat on the instruments in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani gharana (school), or Etawah Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad Khan lived.

Kayhan Kalhor (Persian: كيهان كلهر‎), born 24 November 1963, is an Iranian kamancheh player, composer and master of classical Kurdish and Persian music, he is from a Kurdish family.

Kayhan Kalhor was born in Tehran. He began studying music at age seven. By age thirteen he was playing in the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran. Continuing his music studies under various teachers, he studied in the Persian radif tradition and also travelled to study in the northern part of Khorasan province, where music traditions have Kurdish and Turkic influences as well as Persian. At a musical conservatory in Tehran around age 20 Kalhor worked under the directorship of Mohammad-Reza Lotfi who is from Northern Khorasan. Kalhor also travelled in the northwestern provinces of Iran. He later moved to Rome and Ottawa to study European classical music.

Kayhan Kalhor has a wide range of musical influences, he uses several musical instruments, and crosses cultural borders with his work, but at his center he is an intense player of the Persian violin. In his playing Kalhor often pins Persian classical music structures to the rich folk modes and melodies of the Kurdish tradition of Iran.