Kanun, Qanoun, Qanún, Qanun, Kanoon, Qa’nun, qanoun, Kanoun
Classification: chordophones
The Qanun is a lap-zither with 26 courses of triple strings that rest on a bridge of fish skin. The Qanun player wears a plectrum on the 1st finger of each hand which is heald in place by a wide metal ring. Along the left side of the Qanun a complex system of levers called “‘Uraab” allow the player to introduce accidentals during performance by adjusting the tuning in micro-intervals.
Egypt can be considered the largest harp culture of all times. The arched harp, the archetypal music instrument of Ancient Egypt, existed from the Old Kingdom into the Greek-Roman era. In the Old Kingdom, the arched harp had a shovel-shaped form. It stood upright on the floor, with the player kneeling behind it. This harp was the Old Kingdom’s only stringed instrument (ca. 2575-2134 BC), and it survived even as newer types appeared during the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040-1640 BC).
The qanun is derived from the ancient Egyptian harp and has been used in Arab music since the tenth century Its Arabic name means ‘rule’ or ‘law.’ It was introduced to Europe as early as the 12th century, and became known in its European form during the 14th to the 16th century as a psaltery or zither.
According a legend it was created by Ibn Al-Farabi, an philosopher born in the small village Wasij near Farab in Turkistan in 870. Al-Farabi wrote a lot on the theory of Arab and Persian classical music (his parents were Persian) and had an remarkable approach on how music laws where constructed. Al Farabi died in 950 in Damascus. Abu al Nasr al Farabi invented and played several instruments. This great scientist mastered his instruments and music so well that he could make people laugh or weep at will. Early 16th century Persian miniatures showed a plucked instrument resembling the qanun.
The name originated from Arabic Qonun and Greek Canon both meaning “Law”.
The qanuni (qanun player) can play many types of intervals, called zulzul. By the Arabic and Turkish qanun the tones are adjusted by small bras mechanical jumpers so that each interval can be created and a note can be altered by commas (small fractions of a note, 8 commas=1 semi-tone).
The qanun consists of a trapezoid-shaped flat board over which 81 strings are stretched in groups of three to produce 24 treble chords consisting of three chords to each note. The instrument is placed flat on the knees or table of the musician; the strings are plucked with the finger or with two plectra, one plectrum attached to the forefinger of each hand. .The modern Arab qanun has two to five levers for every string (in triples). Intervals can be minutely adjusted by turning the levers, which control the tension of the strings; permitting a full range of keys. The right hand plays in the treble clef and the left in the bass.
The kanun is one of the kithara class of instruments, which besides Turkey is used in North Africa and the Middle East, Iran, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Greece. In organology, which examines and classifies musical instruments, kithara is the common designation for instruments in which the sound is produced by the vibration of taut strings arranged “openly” from short to long. The name kanun, used in Turkey, Iran and all of the Arab countries, is replaced in other countries by variations either of the Arabic or Greek counterpart.
STRUCTURE: Though the kanun has undergone several changes over the course of its long history, its basic structural features are the same in all countries in which it is played today. Its range extends up to three and one half octaves. The player uses ivory picks.
HISTORY: Nearly all organologists consider the Arabic word kanun to be a derivation of the Greek kanon. Like its name, the instrument’s half-trapezoidal shape is thought to have been given by the Arabs.
The 14th century Persian treatise Kenzü’t-Tuhaf contains a diagram and written description of the kanun, along with other instruments. The writer provides detailed measurements of the kanun, which he depicts in a half trapezoidal shape. According to the treatise, the instrument had sixty-four strings tuned in sets of three. In his work titled Câmî’u’l-Elhân fî ‘Ilmü’l-Musiki and other treatises, the great composer, virtuoso and theoretician Abdülkadir Meragî (-1435) describes the kanun along with other instruments.
Taken to Europe by the Anadalusians around the 12th century, the kanun was known in Span as the caño, in France as the canon, in Germany as the Kanon, and in Italy as the cannale.
Coming into use in Ottoman music in the 15th century at the latest, the kanun underwent changes to its structure, and its size was sometimes increased, sometimes decreased. The kanun used in Istanbul in the 16th century can be considered identical to that used in Iran and Mesopotamia. This instrument was most likely constructed entirely of wood, with metal strings, an assumption supported by several miniatures. The kalun used today by the Uygurs is the only modern instrument resembling this kanun.
The shape of the Ottoman kanun of the 17th century is not precisely known, but it is certain that towards the middle of the 18th century, the instrument assumed a shape very near that of today’s kanun. As the kanun had been abandoned in Iran during that period, we can assume that the changes leading to its present form were carried out in Turkey and the Middle East (Egypt and Syria).
Cantemir’s contemporary Levnî did not illustrate the kanun in any of his miniatures. However the picture in Hizir Aga’s Tefhîmü’l Makamât, estimated to have been written between 1765 and 1770, depicts a modern kanun for all intents and purposes.
In records from the reign of Sultan Selim III, no kanun players are mentioned by name. However, during the reign of Mahmud II (1808-1839), this instrument came once again onto the scene. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the kanun was one of the instruments that were played by women.
In the second half of the 19th century, the kanun was quite popular in Istanbul. A professional music ensemble without a kanun was unthinkable.
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