IN STEREO

I do repair on all kinds of instruments – like qanun, oud, bouzouki, violin, viola, cello… I also do repair and restoration for really old instruments. This is important for me, because in our culture, [if] we have an old maker, and they have instruments that are slowly being lost, we will not find them again. And the problem is that we don't have this culture of the instrument maker. We have carpenters, but we don't have [makers specialising] in musical instruments. They completely destroy an instrument. It's really bad: people bring you an instrument that's really... not a musical instrument [anymore]. But it's my good luck that really good instruments come to me now. And also, in Palestine, now they know I do restoration in my workshop. When I have an instrument, right away I do photos, documentation. I try not to change it – to keep the instrument as they built it, I mean. Nothing new.

Look, I have new and old wood. The new wood I bring from different places here or in Europe, because it's a special kind of wood. And the old wood I bring from old beds, or an old piano – so I work again with it. Especially for restoration, it needs really old pieces of wood. I can't use the new – you will see the difference. I have to keep it in the same condition. Technically the instrument has changed, but it shouldn’t feel like somebody touched it. I say this is my hobby, restoration. But building instruments, that is my work. I prefer to do restoration because you always have to think more, you have to find solutions – it's more interesting! Like [one] qanun, everyone came here: “What do you have here? Throw it away!” And after I finished, people were in shock, really. – Aref