The History of Kanun

The Kanun (Qanoun –Kanoun) is a descendant of the old Egyptian and Babylon harp. The name Kanun was first used on during the Abbasids period in the tenth century, where it was mentioned in the famous tales of ((The Arabian nights)).
Later on the Kanoun made its way through Andalusia to Europe, specifically Greece, Armenia, Romania and then, all Eastern Europe. It was given its recent shape by the philosopher and the scientist Abu Nasr Al Farabi 870-950 AD, who played many musical instruments and wrote a lot of material about the theory of music.

The Kanun is a stringed zither. The sound box is trapezoidal in shape. It is played by plucking the strings with a thin and flat piece of horn or plastic placed between the tip of each index finger and a small metal ring.
In the 20th century the Turks created many new techniques like using the ten fingers for arpeggios. All strings pass on a long bridge on the right side of the instrument which rests on goat or fish-skin covered windows. On the left side, each course of strings passes over a series of small brass levers that are used to make the microtonal changes in pitch. A note can be altered by comas which is a small fraction of a note. 8 comas of sound exist between E flat and E natural which is only a ½ step in western music theory.
The strings are arranged in groups of three called courses. Each course is tuned to one note. The function of the metal levers (mandals) is changing the pitch; a feature added to the instrument by the Turks. Previously the effect used to be made by pressing the fingers down the chords. This addition facilitated changing the pitch. The Arabic “flavor” consists of quarter tones when the Turkish “flavor” can have as many as the full 8 coma of sound to express microtonal subtleties. Thus, the Turkish Kanun can have as many as 12 levers per course of strings. The Arabic version can have up to 27 courses or 81 strings and may have fewer levers to change the pitch than their Turkish neighbors.

The instrument is placed flat on the knees or on a special table. The player initially sets the levers to create the scale of the starting Maqam. When the player needs to modulate to another Maqam, He needs to switch some of the levers back and forth with the left hand while the right hand modulates to another Maqam.

The word Kanun means the “law”. The word comes from a Latin word and exists in English in the form of “canon”. In the near and middle-eastern ensemble, the instrument lays down" the law" of pitch for the other instruments and singers. The Kanun player is often the leader of the orchestra. More than any other instrument in the near and middle-eastern music, the Kanun is suitable for the display of virtuosity, as a solo instrument.