Kanun

The legendary label, deutsche harmonia mundi, releases a special 50 CD boxset featuring star performers such as Hille Perl, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Dorothee Oberlinger, Simone Kermes, and Nuria Rial and more! This collection displays the sheer variety available from the dhm archive. A perfect collection ranging Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic music.

‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is the new studio album from two Tunisian brothers, Amine & Hamza M'raihi. Both are masters of the oud and kanun respectively, the two major instruments of Arabic classical music. ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is steeped in global rhythms spanning from their homeland in Tunisia to Switzerland where Amine and Hamza currently reside, tour and record. ‘Fertile Paradoxes’ is a classy exploration into time-honoured traditions with new dimensions, across eight tracks of carefully selected dynamic collaborations. The album runs close to seventy minutes of airplay; the shortest track is ‘Letter to God’ at 7:31 and the longest being ‘Spleen’ at 10.49.

Greek musician Sofia Labropoulou is a kanun player and composer who has developed a unique sound by merging the worlds of Greek and Mediterranean folk, classical Ottoman, Western medieval, experimental and contemporary music.

Jordi Savall examines 500 years of history in this portrait of a city that symbolises like no other the fruitful, and at the same time, conflictual encounter of the three monotheistic religions. The succession of the Zirid, Almoravid, Almohad and Nasrid dynasties, their relationship with the neighbouring Christian kingdoms and the often precarious situation of the Jews (the first inhabitants of this area) are reflected in this wide musical fresco, in which each culture displays its most advanced refinement.

Born in 1976, Southern Turkey, Hakan A. Toker studied partly at Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts, Ankara. He completed his education in the USA at Indiana University School of Music, double majoring in piano and composition (BM 2000). He also took courses in jazz and electronic music there. Along with his formal education, he taught himself how to improvise and play Turkish music; learned to play the kanun and accordion, after the piano.

Born in 1976, Southern Turkey, Hakan A. Toker studied partly at Bilkent University School of Music and Performing Arts, Ankara. He completed his education in the USA at Indiana University School of Music, double majoring in piano and composition (BM 2000). He also took courses in jazz and electronic music there. Along with his formal education, he taught himself how to improvise and play Turkish music; learned to play the kanun and accordion, after the piano.