The masters of the Qanun. This episode of Orient Express is dedicated to a beautiful instrument: the classical board zither from the Middle East. The qanun is the most important instrument of the classical music from Turkey, Egypt and many Arabic countries.
The word qanun means literally ‘the law’ or ‘the rule’ in Arab. The qanun is often seen as the successor of the old Egyptian harp. A gentleman from Egypt introduced the instrument to the Ottoman court in Istanbul in the 18th century. In some places it took the place of the similar santur, that is comparable to the piano in western music. The qanun is as an instrument most suitable for every kind of maqam (modi or Arabic-Turkish scale).
We will listen to solo improvisations and rare recordings of some masters of the qanun from the 20th century: Yusif Za’rour and Abraham Salman (Iraq), Abdou Saleh (qanun player of the legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kolthoum) and the Egyptian ouhammad Al-Aqqad. We will conclude with the contemporary Turkish master of the instrument: Halil Karaduman.
