Mike's Oud Forums - Powered by XMB

YEMENI OUD - clips'n'trix.

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 04:32 PM

yo, all you peeps and oud freaks!

here's a thread to share, explore and appreciate yemeni oud music. let's find out who knows what about it and what sort of licks'n'kicks'n'shakes'n'beats get you going. i want to talk about sana'a, learn about taizz, explore hadramaut and dance in aden. i want to talk yemeni maqam and have rhythm laid bare.
and above all - i want some serious oud-picking-skillz!

let's get this party started with the man with a voice as big as his hair:

MR FAISAL ALAWI!!!!! :applause:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwmlfQM0VOU&list=FL4caV_bWK_55GD...

you liking it?

over to you!
where you gonna take us?
what are we gonna hear?
got a story to tell?
:xtreme:

LONG LIVE YEMEN! :xtreme:

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 05:07 PM

I love the Yemeni style.
I would also like to learn more about it too.
Beautiful!!

This CD is superb:

http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Yemeni-Songs-Hamud-Junayd/dp/B000...

And I also love this one too:

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Islam-11-Various-Artists/dp/B0000007Z6/...

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 05:18 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jono Oud N.Z

I love the Yemeni style.
I would also like to learn more about it too.
Beautiful!!

This CD is superb:

http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Yemeni-Songs-Hamud-Junayd/dp/B000...

looks interesting. i didn't know it existed, i might have to order it. what's it all about? mainly sanaa'i style?

it's very difficult to find yemeni stuff in the uk. i was only aware of two or three albums commercially available, one of them being mainly tribal drumming and the others some sort of compilations. all nice enough but a little out of context.
i've been to yemen a few times and always brought back a suitcase full of cassettes. that's what got me started on the oud. it's fantastic stuff. 10000s of artists, all very different to one another, but every single one a master.

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 05:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jono Oud N.Z

And I also love this one too:

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Islam-11-Various-Artists/dp/B0000007Z6/...

yeah, that looks cool. again, i haven't heard of it but the musos on it are top notch. i really like this yaha arouma geezer. he's got a very hypnotically soothing feel about him. and he's only young.
i bet this album's dead melancholic, proper sana'a style. like a dream in a caleidoscope. far out stuff. and non commercialised and therefor very true to itself.

i love how varied yemeni music is. when you compare sana'a to taizz, you find two completely different approaches to what music can be all about. sana'a and taizz are only half a days worth of coach travel apart.

in taizz they shake their bones to a very different vibe. there they get off on the likes like AYOOB TARISH, the man who can, dares, pursues and delivers :applause:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m2wbMNdvrc&feature=results_main...

i just find it much rougher around the edges, more grit, more energy, compared to the sana'a style. which doesn't mean i don't love sana'ai music just as much, but for very different reasons.

what do you think?

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 06:12 PM

Very nice! :applause:

Hamud sings a little like this.
The Taizz style is completely new to me.

The first album is just vocal and oud, and the second vocals, oud and percussion.
completely traditional.

There is a variety of maqamat used on both recordings.
Kurdi being quite prominent on the second one (Islam 11), very melancholic and beautiful.

The other one also features Sikah and Rast, and a long taqsim (about 11 mins).

They are both Sana'a style.

I have one I downloaded by Aref Juman, this is just solo oud.

It is no longer available, and it dosen't seem to be for sale either.
I will upload some tracks.
Here are a couple for now:

http://www.4shared.com/audio/6biKTIYF/03-Etab.html

http://www.4shared.com/audio/MahJpssy/04-Ghroub.html

michoud - 9-10-2011 at 06:44 PM

oooooohhhhhhh! ok ok great stuff again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
do you want groove?listen to the groove :airguitar:

listen to this song, is amazing!! :xtreme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTvb_MsSzZQ

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 06:45 PM

I love this one!
I downloaded it a while back.
:applause:

michoud - 9-10-2011 at 06:53 PM

it rocks! :buttrock:

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 06:58 PM

yes, taizz style is ace. taizz is a big city of few million people nestled away in the southern highlands 3k above the red sea. it's inhabited and visited by yemenis and nothing but. it's a hughe city, stretching out into the green valleys. the yemeni highlands are an oasis of green and fertile land the size of scotland in the middle of this massive desert of the arabian peninsula. it's ace up there. nobody knows anything about it anymore. its music has been left alone.
musically it sort of connects the north (sana'a) with the south (aden) and hodeida (tihama) in the west, which is only a swim across the red sea from eritrea. to the east it meets the desert sounds of hadramaut. and even though taizz embrased all these very different styles it preserved its very unique mountain independence. the singers and pickers up there meassure themselves against the wind of the mountains and the ragged peaks and the lack of air. it's pure soul.

i met this guy i posted above (ayoub tarish) in 2008 in his mansion overlooking taizz from the steeps of mount saber and he's the don. he's like the bob dylan of yemen, or what bob dylan always wanted to be. he wrote the national anthem after the reunion. without him not even yemenis would no about music from taizz. he's a dead nice man and kind and funny. we sang together for 26 hours straight. unfortunately he doesn't play oud anymore. he's got arthritis.

in taizz i also met ahmed maheub. he's a bit more on the poppie side. he sure is admired by women and envied by men. there's not the best footage of him available (you should hear his tapes, they make the mad go sane!), so this will have to do. it's more traditional than what he usually does, but worth checking out. you can also see the copper plate percussion thingy in there, something unique to the yemeni highlands, a left over from the days of music prohibition under imam yahya.
ahmed and i ended up recording an album together and became really good friends. we're still in touch, but it's very difficult atm with all that's going on over there...

http://babalyemen.com/yemen/index.php?option=com_seyret&catid=3...

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 07:02 PM

Quote: Originally posted by michoud

oooooohhhhhhh! ok ok great stuff again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
do you want groove?listen to the groove :airguitar:

listen to this song, is amazing!! :xtreme:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTvb_MsSzZQ

[/url]

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!!!! you got it!!! :xtreme:

more! more! MORE!!!!

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 07:19 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jono Oud N.Z

Very nice! :applause:

somehow can't download them at them moment, computer's a bit <b>shoot</b>, but will look into it soon.

with regards to maqams - kurdi does indeed seem to be quite popular. in all the regions. but then there are many regional differences. a few weeks ago a yemeni friend of mine sent me a hand-written book of southern yemeni maqams and rhythms and licks and muqatemems and all nicely spelt out. i don't read arabic yet, so i don't really know the names for a lot of them, but there are a few i haven't come across before.
for example, would you be able to help me out on this one? i'm very interested in its background and usage:
(from bass to top)
sol - la karbemol - si natural - do - re - mi karbemol - fa - sol.

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 07:45 PM

So:
G, Ad, B, C, D, Ed, F, G.

This is identical to Persian Homayun.
The existence of this maqam in Yemen harks back to the early days of this music.

In 'A History of Arabian Music to the 13th century', by Henry George Farmer, he explains that in the early days of Islam, many Persians were working in Mecca.
During this period, Persian singing became 'all the rage', and
was then blended with Arabic music.
The Persians, likewise had to learn Arabic style as well as teaching their style.
You can definitly hear Persian influences in Yemeni singing.

Hijaz was played like this in the 17th century.
(So was Nakriz; C, Ed, F#, G etc..)
(From 'Music of the Ottoman Court', by Walter Feldman).
In the book he shows that the 17th century Ottoman tanbur was fretted exactly like the Persian setar.

tasnif-e Homayoun- Negar p.1.jpg - 133kB

tasnif-e Homayoun- Negar p.2.jpg - 121kB

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 07:53 PM

edit - just got what you said, yes, makes sense... i think. lol..

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 07:58 PM

I write the quarter tones as Ad and Ed.
Does the quality of the si change between natural and b?

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 07:59 PM

whew!
Almost thought I did an unrelated rant, LOL.

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 08:08 PM

Thank you for the information on the taizz style.
Very interesting.

littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 08:14 PM

i guess i just about got away with a bit of brain failure....

very interesting though, this really explains a lot! it really traveled a long way, all the way to the south where the ottoman empire never found a foot.

this is quite an interesting clip. you might have seen it before as it's quite well known, but here we go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdHbypelaJQ

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-10-2011 at 08:42 PM

Wow! :applause:

This is very cool!!
The qanbus!
This is the first time I have seen one.

I wasn't suggesting that there was any Ottoman influence.
I meant that Hijaz used to be played like this.
There was certainly Persian influence in Arabia in the seventh and eighth centuries though.

BaniYazid - 9-11-2011 at 02:42 AM

thank you all 4sharing

littleseb - 9-11-2011 at 06:21 AM

a funky gem from aden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIzANSzz7xE&list=FL4caV_bWK_55GD...

littleseb - 9-11-2011 at 06:26 AM

...and another classic.

i really like the string arrangements in it. and the way the musos look and are seated. very cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGN4xmrwUKg&list=FL4caV_bWK_55GD...

littleseb - 9-11-2011 at 06:40 AM

and back to ouds:
Jamilla Saad!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQwUGKVmHGs

littleseb - 9-12-2011 at 01:20 PM

i'm gonna have to do it now:

a clip very close to my heart, as it was the first ever arabic song i've learned.

ladies and gentlemen, this one is for all you oud-freaks and yemen-fans, here is yemen's biggest export:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKtuPEeKo3E&list=FL4caV_bWK_55GD...
:xtreme:

Jono Oud N.Z - 9-12-2011 at 01:25 PM

:applause:

I love this stuff!
Awesome!

Very good idea starting this topic

littleseb - 9-16-2011 at 04:56 AM

some fine picking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX3Kc1MRFsA&feature=related

Ararat66 - 9-16-2011 at 08:25 AM

Hi LS

I'm enjoying this thread

:buttrock:

Leon

littleseb - 10-1-2011 at 09:09 AM

bit more faisal to rock the boards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N0vgqNk_hA&feature=related

littleseb - 10-1-2011 at 05:17 PM

:mad:

DO NOT IGNORE THE YEMENI OUD :mad:

yemeni oud deserves more recognition. i posted the above ^^^ faisal clip over 7 hours ago....not a single response!! not good enough!! at the very least you could say 'nah, not for me' or 'please seb, not faisal again!'.

YEMENI OUD DESERVES MORE RECOGNITION. IT"S ALL FALLING APART OVER THERE AND WE ARE ABOUT TO LOOSE SOME TRULY ORIGINAL OUD MUSIC! WE HAVE TO SHARE NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

please, let's make sure this thread stays near the top for as long as possible!

Aymara - 10-2-2011 at 02:37 AM

Quote: Originally posted by littleseb

Jamilla Saad!!!

Djamila rocks the house

... here's my favourite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mo7tdV2LZk

I love this song sooo much :applause:

littleseb - 10-2-2011 at 10:27 AM

this ^ is nice, thank you aymara.

shame she doesn't play oud there, she's very good. but just hearing her singing is good enough....she's ace!

Aymara - 10-2-2011 at 12:12 PM

Quote: Originally posted by littleseb

shame she doesn't play oud there, she's very good.

Yes, but the player in this video too ... and I like her singing very much here, much more as in other songs ... not to forget THAT nice groove :applause:

littleseb - 10-14-2011 at 01:35 PM

sod it, let's go back to the crazy sounds of arabia felix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxxUAZPITy0&feature=related

:xtreme:

LONG LIVE YEMEN :xtreme:

littleseb - 10-15-2011 at 12:55 PM

this song really does it for me. we played it a lot when i was in yemen. always goes down really well.
his picking is pretty out there too, i find:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-CsEkJiPaQ&list=FL4caV_bWK_55GD...

Masel - 10-19-2011 at 10:47 AM

I like this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpjGWqAppY

it's not every day you hear 11/8 in arabic music.

rojaros - 10-23-2011 at 02:33 AM

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing

best wishes
Robert

littleseb - 10-28-2011 at 04:16 PM

good evening all!

let's go to aden, because aden rocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8cJJrLOwJE&feature=related

littleseb - 10-29-2011 at 06:59 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Masel

I like this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpjGWqAppY

it's not every day you hear 11/8 in arabic music.

what's the jive behind this 11/8? how do you break it down?

also - i know this song well, i've got it on an unmarked cassette, i didn't know anything about it and was quite surprised to see it posted, thank you!

i always thought the voices were artificially pitched....it's cool! :cool:

littleseb - 11-10-2011 at 03:05 PM

anybody know anything about this scale (another one from my book of yemeni songs and licks)?

C-D-dE-F-G-bA-B-C

cheers.

littleseb - 11-30-2011 at 02:37 PM

lovely, lovely stuff from aden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxiu7ANvlKM&list=FL4caV_bWK_55GD...

littleseb - 2-23-2012 at 04:53 AM

:cool:

i haz done a show on da radio :cool:

http://www.bcbradio.co.uk/musicblog/?p=5544

mavrothis - 2-23-2012 at 09:44 AM

Thanks so much for this thread! I love these beats and the playing styles. So good, and so different.

Last night I heard some Bahraini music with oud, voice and drum. I don't know who the artists were, but the oud playing was really wild, really funky. I'll try and find out who was on the recording.

Thanks again!

m

mavrothis - 2-23-2012 at 11:36 AM

By the way:

http://hajimaji.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/new-release-raw-45s-from-yemen/

littleseb - 2-24-2012 at 02:41 AM

wow mavrothis, this ^ looks boss! will have to order it come payday.

reminds me of when i was in aden i went to what supposedly was the first recording studio in yemen. set up by hmv in the 5ts, all comissioned by her majesty. stacks and stacks of 78s, 45s and reel2reels. i spent hours and hours in there dusting off records and spinning tapes. sadlyt a lot of it is suffering from decay with heat and huminity taking its toll. i always thought somebody should invest a lot of money to safe those rare gems....

michoud - 2-24-2012 at 12:04 PM

hey folks!
Is it possible to find Ali al Semah recordings???

littleseb - 2-25-2012 at 08:54 AM

no idea michoud, sorry. i usually get people to send me stuff directly from yemen. there's not an awful lot available outside yemen.
i could put an order in for ali al semah cassettes and forward them to you if you want. a friend of mine is planning to go there within the next couple of months, this would be a good opprtunity.

michoud - 2-25-2012 at 11:42 AM

Great idea! It is a very good opportunity!
Thanks littleseb!