Abdallah Chahine ( ar, عبد الله شاهين; 1894–1975) was a Lebanese pianist and tuner-technician who devised an " Oriental piano" capable of playing

quarter tones A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

. Abdallah Chahine constructed his Oriental piano with the help of Austrian

Hofmann Hoffman is a surname of German and Jewish origin. The original meaning in medieval times was "steward", i.e. one who manages the property of another. In English and other European languages, including Yiddish and Dutch, the name can also be spelle ...

Wadia Sabra Wadia (Wadih) Sabra ( ar, وديع صبرا ; 23 February 1876 – 11 April 1952) was a Lebanese composer and founder of the Conservatoire Libanais. Life Wadia (Wadih) Sabra was born in 1876 in the village of Ain el Jdideh and died in Beiru ...

had already had an oriental piano manufactured by

Pleyel Ignace Joseph Pleyel (; ; 18 June 1757 – 14 November 1831) was an Austrian-born French composer, music publisher and piano builder of the Classical period. Life Early years He was born in in Lower Austria, the son of a schoolmaster named Ma ...

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, in 1920. As worded by Thomas Burkhalter, In 1962, Chahine recorded a vinyl record with typical Oriental music. Among the composers drawn to Chahine's microtonal instrument were Aloys Hába (1893–1973),

Mohammed Abdel Wahab ''Mohamed Abdel Wahab'' ( ar, محمد عبد الوهاب), also transliterated ''Mohamed Abd El-Wahhab'' (March 13, 1902 – May 4, 1991), was a prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer, actor, and composer. He is best known for his Romantic ...

and Toufic Succar (1922–). His family still owns a large music store in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. His great-granddaughter Zeina Abirached has published a comicbook, ''Le piano oriental'', about a character inspired by him.

References

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* * * * * 1975 deaths 1894 births Lebanese inventors Lebanese pianists {{Pianist-stub