اعطني الناي و غني – فيروز

Visiting a ney master in Istanbul (Photo: Emily O'Dell)

When I was studying the ney, or reed-flute, with Sufis in Istanbul, I found an oversized ney (left) in the office of a master ney teacher. The ney is notoriously difficult to learn–on average, it takes a novice three months just to make a sound…

In the video above, legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz sings “Give Me the Ney and Sing” — the lyrics of which are derived from a poem by Khalil Gibran.

أعطني الناي وغني فالغنا سر الوجود
وأنين الناي يبقى بعد أن يفنى الوجود