qanun

Qanun music during the 5th anniversary of Wikimedia Armenia

The qanun, kanun, ganoun or kanoon (Arabic: قانون, romanized: qānūn; Armenian: քանոն, romanized: k’anon; Sorani Kurdish: قانون, romanized: qānūn; Greek: κανονάκι, romanized: kanonáki, qanun; Persian: قانون, qānūn; Turkish: kanun; Azerbaijani: qanun; Uyghur: قالون, romanized: qalon) is a Middle Eastern string instrument played either solo, or more often as part of an ensemble, in much of Armenia, Iran, Modern Turkey, Greece, Arab East, and Maghreb region of North Africa, later it reached West Africa, Central Asia due to Arab migration. It was also common in ancient (and modern-day) Armenia, and Greece. The instrument is a type of large zither with a thin trapezoidal soundboard that is famous for its unique melodramatic sound.