Promises: Oriental Classical Music

Enchanting classical Arabic and Turkish music is performed by Hicham Chami, an award-winning qanun player and native Moroccan now living in Chicago, accompanied by Catherine Alexandar on hand drums. The qanun, derived from the ancient psaltery, is a plucked stringed instrument with roots in the Middle East. Chami and Alexandar play works from the classical Oriental genres (bashraf, sama'i and longah) by major Arabic and Turkish composers of the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Nawa Athar, Farahfaza, Bayyati, Rast and Nahawand magams (modes). Using these particular modes, they capture the beauty and intricacy of classical Oriental music.