The song I am sharing this week is titled “A Piece for Santur & Orchestra” by Parviz Meshkatian and Roshan Ravan.  The main takeaway I had from Tuesday’s class was how awesome I think the santur is as an instrument.  Many of the world instruments we have listened to so far this semester have caught my ear, but when listening to the example given in class I was really hooked by the sound.  So I set out to find more music with the santur for this song share as I couldn’t recall any songs I had previously known that have come from the Middle East that I have listened to.  After one Google search I found a Spotify playlist titled the Sound of Santur that includes various songs that include the use of the instrument.  I didn’t have to do much searching after that because I really enjoyed the first song I listened to.  This song is off of Parviz Meshkatian’s 1987 album Doud-e Oud and is a piece that features the playing of multiple instruments and that can be noted by the title that there is an orchestra along with the santur.  Parviz Meshkatian was a well known Iranian musician and composer whose music mostly fell under the Persian music genre.  His specialization was in the playing of the santur, and he toured with an ensemble for many years across Europe and Asia.  When it comes to Meshkatian’s song, the santur is by far the most dominant instrument. In this song, Meshkatian’s playing of the santur combines with the ensemble that features the playing of violins, various forms percussion, and other instruments that come together to form a great piece.  This song has a lot going on, and is fast paced which can make it exciting to listen to.  Whenever I think of or listen to  orchestral music it reminds me of the orchestral music from action movies like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  This song obviously has many different features than the music that makes up the soundtracks for those movie franchises, but it gives off the same vibe for me.  Overall, it is a great piece of music and I will now be sure to listen to a couple more of Meshkatian’s songs and expand upon the music I am familiar with.