What it means
دوتار (dotâr) is a long-necked plucked lute with traditionally two strings, though regional variants can have more. The name is straightforwardly Persian: دو (do) means “two” and تار (târ) means “string,” so دوتار means “two strings.” It is the folk cousin of the تار (târ), the classical six-string Persian lute. The dotar is the instrument of the bard (بخشی, bakhshi) tradition in Khorasan and Turkmen regions of Iran.
How to use it
- دوتار ساز سنتی خراسانه. (Dotâr sâz-e sonati-ye Khorâsâne.) “The dotar is the traditional instrument of Khorasan.”
- بابام دوتار میزنه. (Bâbâm dotâr mizane.) “My father plays the dotar.”
- دوتار دو تار داره. (Dotâr do târ dâre.) “The dotar has two strings.”
- موسیقی دوتار خیلی روحنوازه. (Musiqi-ye dotâr kheyli ruh-navâze.) “Dotar music is very soothing to the soul.”
Cultural note
The dotar is strongly associated with the bakhshi singers of northeastern Iran, particularly the Turkmen and Kurdish communities of Khorasan, who use it to accompany epic poetry and spiritual songs. In 2019 UNESCO inscribed the art of crafting and playing the dotar in Iran on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, covering seventeen ethnic communities across the country. Similar two-stringed lutes under the same name are played in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan.