The qanun, also called kanun, ganoun, or kanoon (Arabic: قانون, romanized: qānūn; Armenian: քանոն, romanized: k’anon; Sorani Kurdish: قانون, romanized: qānūn; Greek: κανονάκι, romanized: kanonáki, qanun; Persian: قانون, qānūn; Turkish: kanun; Azerbaijani: qanun; Uyghur: قالون, romanized: qalon) is a string instrument from the Middle East. It is played alone or as part of a group in many places, including Iran, Modern Turkey, Greece, the Arab East, and the Maghreb region of North Africa. Later, it spread to West Africa and Central Asia because of Arab migration. It was also commonly used in ancient and modern Armenia and Greece. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word kanōn, which means "rule, law, norm, or principle."

The qanun has roots in an ancient stringed instrument from the Old Assyrian Empire. This instrument dates back to the 19th century BC in Mesopotamia. It was discovered on a box made of elephant ivory in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud (also known as Caleh). The instrument is a large zither with a thin soundboard shaped like a trapezoid. It is known for its unique and emotional sound.

Etymology

The word "qanun" comes from the Ancient Greek word "kanōn," which means "rule, law, norm, or principle." The qanun has its roots in a stringed instrument from the Old Assyrian Empire. This instrument dates back to the nineteenth century BC and was found in Mesopotamia. It was discovered inside a box made of elephant ivory in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, which was also known as Caleh. The instrument is a large zither with a thin, trapezoidal soundboard. It is famous for its unique and dramatic sound.

Regional variants and technical specifications

Arabic qanuns are typically built with five sections made of skin that hold a single long bridge supported by five curved pillars. Turkish qanuns are slightly smaller and use only four pillars. This design allows Arabic qanuns to have more space for very low and very high strings. Turkish qanuns usually have 26 sets of strings, with three strings in each set for all regional types. Modern Arabic qanuns use Nylon or PVF strings stretched over a bridge that sits on fish-skin at one end and connects to wooden tuning pegs at the other end.

Ornamental sound holes called kafes are important for creating the typical sound of the qanun. These holes are placed in different positions on the soundboard of Turkish and Arabic qanuns and may differ in shape, size, and number based on location or personal choice.

A Turkish kanun is usually about 95 to 100 cm (37–39 inches) long, 38 to 40 cm (15–16 inches) wide, and 4 to 6 cm (1.5–2.3 inches) tall. Arabic qanuns are slightly larger, as mentioned earlier.

The qanun is played by sitting or squatting and placing it on the lap, or using a support frame. It is played by plucking the strings with two tortoise-shell picks (one in each hand) or with fingernails. The instrument has a standard range of three and a half octaves, from A2 to E6. Arabic qanuns can extend this range to F2 and G6.

The qanun also includes small metal levers or latches under each set of strings called mandals. These levers can be quickly moved up or down during playing to slightly change the pitch of a set of strings by adjusting the effective length of the strings.

Tuning and temperament

The regular diatonically tuned qanun first used mandal technology, according to Turkish musicologist Rauf Yekta, about 30 years before he submitted his invited monograph on Turkish music to the 1922 edition of Albert Lavignac's Encyclopédie de la Musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire. Before this, Levantine qanuns were less flexible and harder to play, especially as musicians began using more complex modulations and transpositions that resembled Western musical systems. To make adjustments during performances, players had to press the leftmost ends of the qanun's strings with the fingernail of their thumb.

Later, with the use of electronic tuners, the placement of reference mandals on the qanun became standardized. Armenian kanuns now use equal half-tones, while Arabic kanuns use exact quarter-tones. However, Turkish kanun-makers divided the equal-tempered semitone (100 cents) into six equal parts, creating 72 equal divisions of the octave. Not all pitches from this 72-tone system are available on the Turkish kanun, as makers only added mandals for the most commonly used modulations and transpositions. This led to the irregular arrangement of mandals on the Turkish kanun, which helps players navigate the instrument's scale since it lacks other pitch markers. Some makers also divide semitone distances into seven or five parts in different sections of the qanun, but this affects the consistency of octave relationships. Despite these differences, Turkish kanuns offer hundreds of mandal configurations for use during performances.

The widespread use of 24-tone systems on Arabic qanuns and 72-tone systems on Turkish qanuns has sparked debate. Critics argue that these systems, based on European-style octave divisions, do not accurately represent the fluid, flexible pitches and inflections found in traditional Arabic or Ottoman classical music. Audio analysis shows that equal temperaments based on multiples of twelve are not compatible with authentic Middle Eastern performances, which may clash with instruments like the tanbur, oud, ney, or kemenche when played with just intonation.

Alternative tuning methods for the qanun also exist. Turkish music theorist Ozan Yarman proposed a 79-tone system to accurately represent Maqamat, Makamlar, and Dastgaha scales within acceptable error margins. This system was used by luthier Ejder Güleç on a Turkish kanun. Additionally, Swiss-French qānūn performer Julien Jalâl Ed-Dine Weiss, who criticized the limitations of European-style tuning, designed prototypes based on Pythagorean and harmonic intervals using simple integer ratios. These instruments were also built by Ejder Güleç according to Weiss's instructions.

Notable players

• Anzhela Atabekyan
• Göksel Baktagir (Turkish)
• Aytaç Doğan
• Mohammad-abdo Saleh (Arabic)
• Petros Tabouris
• Ara Topouzian
• Henry Azra