Foreign Instruments

Being that I'm a fan of an Armenian rock band (System of a Down), I decided to dedicate this post on Middle Eastern instruments. I feel nostalgic when I hear artists like Arto Tuncboyacian because the melody in their songs is somewhat hypnotizing. It makes me feel at ease, maybe even "one with music". Instruments like the ud, and the Qanoon are heavily used in Arabic orchestra.

The ud has the shape of a pear with five double courses of nylon or gut and metal-wound silk strings, and is also fretless, which makes it a little hard to play without the proper knowledge. The Qanoon, on the other hand, resembles a harp in the sense that you must pluck the strings to hear a note. Interstingly enough, the bridge of the Qanoon rests on segments of fish skin covering small square spaces on the wood top, which means that the strings are tuned with the basic notes of a given scale.