The Indian Santoor, an improvised version of a primitive instrument played in the Mesopotamian times (1600-900 BC), is a stringed instrument consisting of a wooden hollow box with twenty five bridges, each having four strings resting on it. It is played with the help of two wooden mallets known as mezrabs. The santoor is a predecessor of the piano because it is based on the same principle of a mallet striking metal strings. It is played in a style of music known as the Sufiana Mausiqi (the classical choral ensemble music of the Kashmir region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir).

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