Originally posted by Mike
Hey David,
Farid el-Atrache was much more than just an oud player. He was a composer, singer, spectacular oud player, and actor. (not his greatest talent...but
he acted in over 30 films during the golden age of Arabic cinema) He wasn't limited to one type of music either. He could compose the fun
"taqtooqa", love song, patriotic song, qasida, operette, etc. In other words, he was multi-talented, and thus he was a huge figure.
In terms of oud, it is said that his mother is the one who initially taught him the oud. She was a performer herself. Then later Farid Ghosn and Riad
el-Sunbati were his tutors. Actually, Riad el-Sunbati said of Farid that he had nothing more to show him, and I believe Farid was either in his late
teens or early twenties at the time. If you want to listen to Farid's oud, the King of Oud CD is not the best place to start. Although it is a
great CD, but you must listen to him when he was younger. Most of those taqsims, like the Zaman ya Hobb taqsim for example, were when he was much
older. (he passed away only a few months after that Zaman ya Hobb concert)
I'll send you some stuff David via email, but listen to the finale of a taqsim from an "El Rabih" concert. This guy was great man.
Take care,
Mike |