Imane Homsy discovered music through family encouragements. Born in 1967 in Lebanon, she liked to listen to her two sisters when they were playing piano. Then, at seven, her parents sent her at the National Conservatory of Beirut to play the kanoun. It was her parent’s choice, but she quickly made it hers. She turned this musical instrument into a companion, a friend she met in the evening after school.
With talent and curiosity, Imane Homsy had developed her own technique. Traditionally, the Kanoun is a string instrument played with two fingers and Imane Homsy enriched her work to be able to interpret tunes borrowed from the West repertoire. First, she only added her thumbs but six fingers weren’t enough. So, she added her ring fingers, leaving at her little fingers the job to pinch the leftover strings so she could get different tunes. This technique with ten fingers generates new atmospheres so different from the traditional use and it opens the polyphonic potential of kanoun.
At the top of her art, Imane Homsy was swept away by disease in 2013. She left behind several musical recordings, evidence of her love affair with the kanoun, the instrument she alone really knew how to reveal all the charm and the depth.
Available album : Lord Kanun