Muhammad Sabsabi

Beirut-based and conservatory-trained, Sabsabi was among Lebanon’s leading mid-20th-century qanun virtuosi and teachers. Arabic-language sources tied to the Beirut Heritage archive state he was born 1927 and died 2011; they also note he became the first Lebanese student to graduate from the National Conservatory (1948), then served as qanun soloist for Radio Lebanon and taught at the conservatory, with a cohort of notable pupils (e.g., Jamal Sinno, later active in the U.S.).