Qanun (instrument)

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(Redirected from
Kanonaki
)
Qanun/Kanun
Armenian Qanun, 19th century
String instrument
Classification
DevelopedAntiquity
Playing range
(F2)A2-E6(G6)
Related instruments
Kanun music during the 5th anniversary of Wikimedia Armenia

The qanun, kanun, ganoun or kanoon (

romanized: qalon) is an Arabic string instrument played either solo, or more often as part of an ensemble, in much of the Arab East, and Arab Maghreb region of North Africa, later it reached West Africa, Central Asia due to Arab migration. It was also common in ancient (and modern-day) Armenia, and Greece. The name derives ultimately from Ancient Greek: κανών kanōn, meaning "rule, law, norm, principle". The qanun traces one of its origins to a stringed Assyrian instrument from the Old Assyrian Empire, specifically from the nineteenth century BC in Mesopotamia.[1] This instrument came inscribed on a box of elephant ivory found in the old Assyrian capital Nimrud (ancient name: Caleh).[1] The instrument is a type of large zither with a thin trapezoidal soundboard
that is famous for its unique melodramatic sound.

Regional variants and technical specifications

Arabic qanuns are usually constructed with five skin insets that support a single long bridge resting on five arching pillars, whereas the somewhat smaller Turkish qanuns are based on just four. This allows Arabic variants of the instrument to have more room for the installation of extreme bass and treble strings. Kanuns manufactured in Turkey generally feature 26

PVF
strings that are stretched over the bridge poised on fish-skins as described on one end, and attached to wooden tuning pegs at the other end.

Ornamental sound holes called kafes are a critical component of what constitutes the accustomed timbre of qanun. However, they normally occupy different locations on the soundboard of Turkish kanuns compared to Arabic qanuns, and may also vary in shape, size and number depending on geography or personal taste.

The dimensions of a Turkish kanun are typically 95 to 100 cm (37–39") in length, 38 to 40 cm (15–16") in width, and 4 to 6 cm (1.5–2.3") in height.[2] In contrast, an Arabic qanun measures a bit larger as mentioned.[3]

Qanun is played on the lap while sitting or squatting, or sometimes on trestle support, by plucking the strings with two tortoise-shell picks (one for each hand) or with fingernails, and has a standard range of three and a half octaves from A2 to E6 that can be extended down to F2 and up to G6 in the case of Arabic designs.

The instrument also features special metallic levers or latches under each course called mandals. These small levers, which can be raised or lowered quickly by the performer while the instrument is being played, serve to slightly change the pitch of a particular course by altering effective string lengths.[4]

Qanun performer in Jerusalem, 1859. Thomson, p. 577.
Typical Armenian qanun. Museum of Cognac (France)

Tuning and temperament

On the regular

key changes
), requiring the player to use the fingernail of the thumb to depress on the leftmost ends of the courses to achieve on-the-fly intervallic alterations.

With the advent of

octave equivalences
. Despite the mentioned discrepancies, hundreds of mandal configurations are at the player's disposal when performing on an ordinary Turkish kanun.

On the other hand, the nowadays widespread application of equidistant 24-tones on Arabic and 72-tones on Turkish qanun models presents an ongoing source of controversy.

Ottoman classical music scales. Pitch measurement analyses of relevant audio recordings reveal that, equal temperaments based on bike-chained "multiples of twelve" are essentially not compatible with authentic Middle Eastern performances; substantiating the notion instruments strictly based on them would clash audibly with a justly tuned/intoned tanbur, oud, ney, or kemenche.[10][11]

Alternate tuning approaches for the qanun thus also exist. Turkish music theorist Ozan Yarman has proposed, for example, an academical 79-tone temperament for the expression within tolerable error-margins of

just intervals, is known to have conceived, since 1990, a number of prototypes that were entirely based on low prime-limit or simple integer ratio Pythagorean and harmonic intervals; which were once again built, on instructions from Weiss, by Ejder Güleç.[14]

Notable players

Kanûnî, from Rålamb Costume Book, 1657.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Qanoon". furatmusic.com.
  2. ^ Aydoğdu, Gültekin; Aydoğdu, Tahir (2018-02-11). "'Kanun' hakkında". turksanatmuzigi.org: Salih Bora.
  3. ^ "About The Qanun". www.middleeasterndance.net. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  4. ISBN 978-0-520-27515-7
    .
  5. ^ Nasuhioğlu, Orhan (December 1986). Türk Musikisi – Rauf Yekta Bey. Pan Yayıncılık. pp. 92–93.
  6. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    – via Oxford Music Online.
  7. ^ Yarman, Ozan (2008). 79-tone Tuning & Theory For Turkish Maqam Music As A Solution To The Non-Conformance Between Current Model And Practice (PDF). Istanbul Technical University: Institute of Social Sciences: unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. pp. 2–3, 92, 126.
  8. ^ Aydoğdu, Tahir; et al. (2012). "1. ULUSLARARASI KANUN SEMPOZYUMU VE FESTİVALİ Program ve Özetler" (PDF). (I. International Qanun Symposium & Festival). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2016-06-27.
  9. ^ Aydoğdu, Tahir; et al. (2015). "2. ULUSLARARASI KANUN SEMPOZYUMU VE FESTİVALİ synopsis". (II. International Qanun Symposium & Festival).
  10. S2CID 57766225
    .
  11. ^ Signell, Karl (1977). Makam – Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. Washington: Asian Music Publications. pp. 37–47, 151–61.
  12. ^ Güleç, Levent & Bülent. "Ejder Müzik Aletleri". www.ejdermuzik.com. Retrieved 2016-06-27.
  13. ^ "79-tone qanun recipe". www.ozanyarman.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  14. ^ Pohlit, Stefan (2011). Julien Jalâl Ed-Dine Weiss: A Novel Tuning System for the Middle-Eastern Qānūn. Istanbul Technical University: Institute of Social Sciences: unpublished Doctorate Dissertation.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kanun (instrument).
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