Thanks, i've been watching his right arm and im not really versed enough to make any distinction. Care to explain that more?
Keep watching and then try to replicate what you see, looking in a mirror. For one thing the down strokes are really down, with no movement away
from the body, away from the face of the oud. The rest strokes might contain some movement toward the soundboard, but not away. Outward motion sound
like "nyeep, nyeep" instead of "tooom". Also the hinge of the wrist is not locked. There is no independent right hand finger motion. The index finger
of the right hand is not pointing at anything. Also the hand is not draped over the side of the oud, it is coming from behind the bridge. There are
other things. Keep looking,
I understand everyone has their own 'way' of playing, especially when dealing with improvisation, but how are the players I mentioned (with the
exception of Ahmad al Khatib, who from what I can decipher is doing something else) not the same kind of music?
Iraqi music and Iraqi oud playing is for the most part a different music and a different mindset. More different than Carnatic music is from
Hindustani, to use familiar references. Especially the school of Munir Bashir. And then there is the way Iraqi oudists Jamil Bashir and Salman Shakur
played which was deeply connected to the playing and musical sense of Sherif Muhiddin Haider Targan, their teacher who came to Baghdad from Turkey to
teach.
Who would you say is the 'same kind of music' as Simon Shaheen?
In general broad terms, musicians from west of Iraq and east of Libya.
And no genius cannot be explained, but someone more knowledgeable than me could provide some insights as to what i'm hearing that makes it so much
more amazing than others. When he plays so fast, even when switching strings, it looks like his hand isn't even moving |