Shahrud: Azerbaijan musical instrument

Shahrud has been classified as a short-necked lute. The word “sehrud” is believed to have its origin from Persia that originated from the words “sah-I rud” which means “king of lutes or large lute.” Al-Farabi included an illustration of the sehrud in his Kitanbul Musiki, yet it was very difficult to determine particulars from this drawing.

The old sehrud is entirely different from the large ud often seen in Iranian miniatures of a few centuries later. So it is clear that the meaning of the old name changed, being applied to a recent different instrument. The sehrud which was one of the most-illustrated instruments in Iranian and ottoman miniature was entirely drawn overly large. From this point of view, it was obvious that the miniatures were not realistic. There is no difference between the Iranian and ottoman sehrud and so can be determined from the miniature that Iran played with neck horizontal and the ottomans played theirs with neck elevated.

Abd al-Qadir Maraghi had special interest in the restoration and improvement of the stringed musical instrument.