Mike's Oud Forums

Seeking Score for Rembetiko Song "I Kardia Mou Spena Theli"

John Erlich - 1-20-2020 at 08:28 PM

Hi Folks,

Does anyone out there have a score for the Greek Rembetiko song, ""I Kardia Mou Spena Theli," "η καρδια μου εσενα θελει"?

Here is a recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjnKK2HaKmg

Efharisto poli,
"Udi" John

mavrothis - 2-8-2020 at 05:23 PM

Hi,

I don’t have the score, though this song is typically learned by ear. You might try searching “Aman Yiala” “Αμάν γιάλα” also. It’s better known with that title.

John Erlich - 2-8-2020 at 10:19 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mavrothis  
Hi,

I don’t have the score, though this song is typically learned by ear. You might try searching “Aman Yiala” “Αμάν γιάλα” also. It’s better known with that title.


I found recordings of the song on YouTube with both those names AND yet another title ("Tsiftiteli" something, I think). Yeah, I guess I'll have to buckle down and learn it by ear. I play Arabic oud, so the recordings I've found have been in the "wrong" key for me, and I've got a long list of other material to deal with for this particular upcoming gig.

Brian Prunka - 2-9-2020 at 07:31 AM

John, if you don't have it already, I highly recommend the program "Transcribe!"
It's really great for learning things from old recordings that may not be tuned to the same (or any reference pitch). You can change the tuning and speed to help with transcription and learning by ear, and for practicing along with difficult/fast tunes and passages.

John Erlich - 2-9-2020 at 11:12 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  
John, if you don't have it already, I highly recommend the program "Transcribe!"
It's really great for learning things from old recordings that may not be tuned to the same (or any reference pitch). You can change the tuning and speed to help with transcription and learning by ear, and for practicing along with difficult/fast tunes and passages.

Thanks for the tip, Brian! I'll check into it.

Jody Stecher - 2-10-2020 at 06:40 AM

I use "The Amazing Slowdowner" for the same purpose. Several people have said they prefer "Transcribe!" but have not said why.

Brian Prunka - 2-10-2020 at 11:49 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  
I use "The Amazing Slowdowner" for the same purpose. Several people have said they prefer "Transcribe!" but have not said why.


I haven't tried ASD for a long time, but in older versions Transcribe had a number of advantages regarding how intuitive and flexible the interface is for transcribing.

It has a graphical waveform and many many options for how you loop, start/stop (going back to a set point, picking up where you stopped, setting markers, etc.) and also includes a midi keyboard for checking reference pitches if you want (you can also transpose the keyboard if you want to transcribe a performance that is in a different key, say Bayati in Ab on the recording you can transpose the keyboard so your reference pitch A is Ab, like you're transcribing Bayati A . . . this is useful for those Oum Kulthoum recordings where it's Rast in F# etc).
It will also analyze the waveform and show you "note guesses" on the keyboard if you want, though this isn't necessary it might help some people who are new to transcribing or if the source recording is poor quality.
It has advanced "karaoke" options that can help isolate instruments on stereo recordings, and a much more flexible EQ.
Overall it just seems to have a lot more options and flexibility. It can also use a foot control, very helpful for people who transcribe professionally.

As the software designers describe it, it's primarily a transcription tool that has pitch and speed tools included, while ASD seems to just primarily be a pitch and speed tool, but isn't particularly optimized as a transcription tool beyond that.

It's also $40, about $10 cheaper than ASD and seems to be updated a lot more regularly with refinements and new features.

None of that necessarily means you should switch if you already have ASD and it's working for you, but if you haven't purchased either, I think Transcribe is the better option.

bugaga - 2-11-2020 at 01:36 AM

I should give Transcribe a try, too. Until now I was using Sonic Visualiser, which is rather an audio analysis tool, a bit clumsy to handle, but also has several features that help you transcribing. Of course, you can slow down and loop, but also create pitch graphs. Also it can create onsets that help you with durations, what can be helpful for microrhythms or slight changes of speed in taqsims. It's downloadable free and there are several plugins.