Kurdish musician makes musical instruments from brooms and dustpans

Atta Qani playing one of the musical instruments he made, Photo Credit: Shad Ibrahim

Kurdish musician Atta Qani makes his own musical instruments from very odd materials such as brooms and dustpans which has drawn the attention of passersby who are mesmerized by his musical talent.

Atta Qani is originally from a village in the Kurdish-Iranian city of Saqqez.

He came to Slemani several days ago. He plays music with different instruments that he makes by himself.

Atta uses brooms, dustpans, shovels, and canes in making his odd yet exquisite musical instruments.

"I have been working in the art field for 12 years. I have been a street sweeper in Saqqez, so as a tribute to all street sweepers who clean the streets, I wanted to make some musical instruments with brooms, shovels, and dustpans," Qani told PUKmedia.

"I made the violin, Ney, and Saz. I am also planning to make some other musical instruments," he added.

Qani aims to introduce more people to this art, while the people seem to be welcoming his modern and creative art.

"Many people visit me daily and take pictures with me because people are not familiar with this kind of art," Qani said.

Qani came to Slemani 4 days ago along with his musical instruments. He plays his music at the city's Sara Square during the evening hours and at Azadi Park during night hours.

Saz is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music, and parts of Syria, Iraq, and the Balkan countries.

Ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. Ney is one of the oldest musical instruments still in use.



Reported by Jamal Sargati
PUKmedia