IN STEREO

I think twenty years ago, music started coming [back], because there is the Internet, and people are more open. You know, I’ve lived in a time that I can see how the situation changed. [The scene is getting] bigger and bigger, and we have really good musicians today. Still, we need time. But I say it's always good to start trying. We are in training, I mean. It's important. For our culture, or identity. It's not important because we have to fight or something like that. It will really help a human find meaning, in a way, how to think. That's why it's important. It's important to know yourself. For me, all instruments are the same. Nobody likes one child more than the other. [The qanun] is the melodic instrument. Maybe today they try to use some chords when they play, but it’s originally only a melodic instrument.

The qanun has a warm and... I can't say exactly what the qanun sound is, it's difficult. Do you know where the name comes from? Qanun means ‘law’ in Arabic. And in the past, the qanun was the leader of the group. But why? You know, if you walk, for example, with an old man, you have to go slowly with him. The qanun is the old man in the group. It has many, many problems, because it has a lot of strings and it is so difficult to tune. You know, in the piano, you have the white and black, full and half [notes]. But here in Arabic music, we divide one complete note into four parts. [So] they tune the strings up to one scale. All night, from the beginning to the end, only one scale, because they can't change it. And that's why all the musicians align their tuning with the qanun. – Aref