Kashmir's mystical santoor tradition clings to its final artisan

In a modest workshop filled with the fragrance of seasoned wood, 78-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Zaz continues a craft his family has preserved for eight generations - the making of the Kashmiri santoor.

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STRINGS OF TRADITION. Ghulam Mohammad Zaz makes the santoor instrument at his home in Srinagar, India.

(AFP)

Surrounded by tools that have outlived artisans, he works slowly, each strike and polish echoing centuries of tradition crafting the musical instrument.

"Seven generations have worked and I am the eighth; I have no guarantee anyone after me will do this work," Zaz said softly, speaking in Kashmiri.

Once, several of his family members shared this craft in the heart of Kashmir's main city Srinagar, in the Indian-administered part of the Himalayan territory.

Today, he is the last in the city to make the instruments by hand.