fernandraynaud - 9-4-2012 at 04:22 AM
There's an "oud-related" concert at Yoshi's in Oakland CA today Tuesday Sept 4th around 8:30 pm. Looks very promising. Details here:
http://www.yoshis.com/oakland/jazzclub/artist/show/2991
You can look up both Omar Souleyman and Trey Spruance on Youtube.
fernandraynaud - 9-5-2012 at 01:44 AM
That was an interesting affair. The first part was a strong set of traditional style Sharkey music by Aswat, the local Arabic ensemble. That shifting
tonal center effect on a driving rhythm, that makes Arabic music so different from Western music, held me spell-bound. Great violinist, kanun player,
oudist/singer, and female vocalist. The percussionist (riq/dumbek) was relatively withdrawn. The most unusual was the bass player. At first I was
trying to locate where the bass was coming from, as no long neck was visible from where I sat. And then I spotted the young man playing what looked
like a very short scale guitar with 4 tuners. He told me after the show: it's an (amplified) bass ukulele.
The second part of the concert started very loud, with Mr Fixit (Rizan Sa'id) behind two keyboards punching up percussion/bass sequences and stroking
the pitch bend lever to create the most searing serpentine maqamat runs on a (Korg?) synthesizer. Like a Zurna on speed. Souleyman came out in his
usual garb, ambled stiffly and sang in Arabic, on and off, and clapped the audience out to dance. For two guys, one of whom carries all instrumental
duties, it's an amazing wall of darned good dance music. About half the room was out going nuts on the dance floor. Some old-timers, who had evidently
relished the first part, looked pained and departed. Guess they didn't stick wadded-up napkins in their ears like I do at the first notes, when I see
objects start shaking on the table. I was really really looking forward to seeing Trey Spruance, a very very eclectic musician, working with Souleyman
and Said, but he never never showed.
stringmanca - 9-5-2012 at 07:22 AM
Thanks for the report - sorry I couldn't make it! I have some friends that are in the Aswat ensemble, but I'm not sure who played at this show.
ibn sina - 9-8-2012 at 03:11 PM
Hey! I really enjoyed your report. I think Omar Suleyman played at Summer Stage in NYC last year and it was disappointing. Similar performance, no
live music.
fernandraynaud - 9-9-2012 at 12:26 AM
Glad you enjoyed, thanks. But I beg to argue that technology makes it harder and harder to say where the boundary lies between live and dead music.
Sa'id plays 2 keyboards that have sequencers built-in. That allows him to play more parts. He can start up a foundation of bass/drums that he
sequenced earlier, which frees his 2 hands to play other parts. It's not like he's faking to a playback. He's a darned good synth player. His dumbek
and riq solos on the keyboard are very fine, and his lead parts are entrancing - he uses the pitch bend lever in different maqamat better than anyone
I've heard.
If you say that using the electronics is not "playing live music", we'd have to ask whether playing a piano is live, since the player presses
mechanical linkages and not the strings. And what about holding down a piano pedal to keep a drone going? Is playing an amplified oud ok? Even a risha
is a technological extension for the fingers, and the oud itself isn't wood-natural like a hollow log and a coconut. This style of dance music NEEDS
a very mechanical driving beat, so I have no quarrel with the sequences. Now, personally, I prefer a performance that offers more musicians to watch,
more surprises, that was my complaint. There's a fantastic electric Saz player that plays w/ Omar and Sa'id on some clips that I hoped to see.
Souleyman himself is another issue. He's far less live than the sequences. With that stiffness, like the stage promenade of The Unawake Sheik, his
formulaic whoops and clapping, there's something intriguing and magnetic about him. Partly it's his sunglasses, his long robe, his little slippers,
like he just came out of storage. Maybe he's actually not live -- a vampire?
I was really looking forward to see what Trey Spruance, himself no stranger to cooler than cool, could possibly POSSIBLY come up with to one-up "Omar,
The Wired Vampire".
John Erlich - 9-10-2012 at 12:59 PM
Thanks for the review! Do we know the names of the musicans?