Ghassan Sahab.. The Qanun in Early Recordings
Returning to the first music recordings on cylinders is a kind of research in the archives, given that the rapid technological development imposed new genres on the musical field, within short periods; As soon as certain inventions are adopted and become basic, until others that are more advanced appear, and this has happened since the beginning of the twentieth century, which is almost completely different in terms of techniques and tools than we are today.
On the other hand, the change in forms was not limited to recording tools, as musical instruments, in turn, underwent a number of modifications, and no longer retained the form they were in at one time. Accordingly, the researcher, as well as the listener, is confronted with a complex situation, if he intends to study the “origins” of musical patterns, or to compare the conditions in which they were.
“With Abu Bedoun Arabs: The Qanun at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century” is the title of the hearing session that will be held next Saturday, the twelfth of August, at the “Foundation for Documentation and Research in Arab Music,” in the Lebanese town of Qornet El Hamra, which is devoted to the Qanun. Through the balance of the early recordings, presented by the Lebanese musician and researcher Ghassan Sahab.
The session takes the listeners back to the end of the nineteenth century, when the first recordings appeared in the Arab East. It is the same period in which the qanun machine underwent a major development, represented by the addition of metal brackets that took the name “Arabs” or “Arabat”.
It is also the period shortly before the beginning of the era of records (1903), when recordings were made of fourteen qanun players in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Iraq. Examining these recordings, it became clear that some of the musicians recorded according to laws without “wagons”, others recorded according to laws with “wagons”, and there are a number of musicians who recorded according to laws with and without “wagons”.
Sahab seeks, through this audio session, to introduce some of the musicians who used these two types of laws, and the period of time studied, as well as provide some analyzes of the recordings.
