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KASABJI PLEASE!!

Edward Powell - 3-17-2009 at 10:26 AM

i just learned that my favorite anonymous clip is in fact the great Kasabji. . . .

can anyone point out some more clips or mp3s of this RocknRoll oud animal!!

:xtreme:

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 11:37 AM

EDIT: All the recordings below and more are found in the newly added page http://www.mikeouds.com/qassab.html as the links may expire soon

Here is one recorded in 1962

http://www.wikifortio.com/824711/Mohammed%20El%20Qasabji-1962-Oud%2...

Edit: The man who speaks in Arabic at the beginning of the recording says that it was Friday, Jan. 5, 1962, at the house of Mr. Mohammad Kawthar.

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 11:39 AM

I'll upload more soon.. maybe in a few hours..

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 12:34 PM

Qasabji and Abdo Saleh (Qanun) with Um Kulthoum (Ya Zalemni Song)

http://www.wikifortio.com/751563/Qasabji%20and%203abdo%20Saleh%201....

(Qasabji Taqsim in the last few minutes)

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 12:40 PM

Taqsim Rast dating back to sometime between 1924 and 1926.. Amazing ending!

http://www.wikifortio.com/822089/Taqsim%20Rast%201924-1926.mp3

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 12:52 PM

Hijaz Kar Kurd 1939..

http://www.wikifortio.com/390642/Hijaz%20Kar%20Kurd%201939.mp3

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 01:21 PM

Taqsim Hijaz Kar 1929..

http://www.wikifortio.com/818250/Taqsim%20Hijaz%20Kar%201929.mp3

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 01:32 PM

Taqsim Saba 1930..

http://www.wikifortio.com/748665/Taqsim%20Saba%201930.mp3

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 01:44 PM

Taqsim Bayat 1930..

http://www.wikifortio.com/820272/Taqsim%20Bayat%201930.mp3

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 02:08 PM

Taqsim Nahawand 1926..

http://www.wikifortio.com/782791/Taqsim%20Nahawand%201926.mp3

corridoio - 3-17-2009 at 02:25 PM

wow!
Many many thanks Reda for all this..
Ale

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 03:00 PM

Enjoy!

An interview on the radio with Al Qasabji..

http://www.wikifortio.com/813757/Interview%20on%20the%20Radio%20-%2...

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 03:16 PM

Samai Rast..

http://www.wikifortio.com/816242/Samai%20Rast%20-%20Al%20Qasabji.mp...

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 03:40 PM

Ta7mila Rast..

Oud: Mohammad Al Qasabji
Violin: Sami Al Shawwa
Qanun: Ali Rashidi

http://www.wikifortio.com/760794/Ta7mila%20Rast.mp3

Reda Aouad - 3-17-2009 at 03:56 PM

Another great one.. Dala3 el Hawanem

This one is a must-hear!

http://www.wikifortio.com/746860/Dala3%20el%20Hawanem.mp3

Edward Powell - 3-17-2009 at 04:29 PM

WOW!

THANKS!

...this is going to take some time to get thru + now 3am, after a 3 hour heavy discussion with 2 Aid volunteers who have just been booted out of Gaza (now at my hotel)...

I will listen tomorrow -

Then Thursday all day rehearsal - - - Friday concert - - - Saturday fly home. . . .

bibo10 - 3-23-2009 at 09:59 PM

you are the man..thank you sooo much

Masel - 3-23-2009 at 11:09 PM

Thank you!

Edward Powell - 3-23-2009 at 11:27 PM

Yes, Thanks Reda...

Unfortunately now I am back in the West I feel 1,000,000 miles away from the oud and it's spirit --- with a million other things to do and think about now. But still I hope to find time to get into all these great links- - - also on all those other threads.

Faladel - 3-24-2009 at 12:16 AM

Dear Reda:

The Master Kasabji is one of the biggest, one of the most important, it is a giant and fundamental school between the laudist of all the time, thank you very much for choosing these wonderful performances especially in a forum where there are many people who have not been born in the Arab world and have not had the auditory formation and of sensations to savor this big master, thanks for illuminating the way.

DaveH - 3-24-2009 at 01:58 AM

I want to say a huge thank you too to Reda. These are real treasures and you've done a huge service to those of us who have a harder time getting hold of historic recordings. I hope you have them backed up somewhere.

Shoukran ya habibi!

EDIT: just a thought - it might be worth moving this post to the professional sound clips section so it doesn't get lost to future searchers. I'm assuming there's no copyright issue.

EDIT 2: I didn't know what to call this album in my itunes collection, so, in your honour, it's now called "from the collection of reda aouad". If that's not immortality, I don't know what is!

Edward Powell - 3-24-2009 at 02:55 AM

sure, moving it is no problem for me.

Yeah, Kasabji is amazing.... I have been downloading TONS of oud clips off youtube, and many of them I just delete. But this one clip I have of Kasabji... - I didn't have any idea who it was... - but people had recommended to me "OK'S oudi" . . . .then finally Antar told me this is HIM when I played it for him. I kept coming back again and again to this one clip... sometimes you feel you only need just a couple of really excellent clips rather than dozens for mediocre ones.

I wonder about the history of this man. Do he compose, or make his own albums, or tour as an oud soloist? --how did he meet OK?

Reda Aouad - 3-24-2009 at 04:42 AM

You're most welcome guys

It's my pleasure to share these clips in this amazing forum with all the great members. Im sure you will enjoy them..

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveH
just a thought - it might be worth moving this post to the professional sound clips section so it doesn't get lost to future searchers. I'm assuming there's no copyright issue.

Sure it's a good idea. But in fact, I've uploaded the clips to http://www.wikifortio.com which is for free, but they will only remain valid for 99 days after their upload time - the day I posted them here is the same day I uploaded them. So it will not be a good idea to move the links to the professional clips section. Maybe we can convince Mike to create a dedicated section on this website if he has some space to spare since each file's size exceeds the attachment limit.
What do you say Mike?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveH
I didn't know what to call this album in my itunes collection, so, in your honour, it's now called "from the collection of reda aouad". If that's not immortality, I don't know what is!

That's an honor to me

I don't know what to say.. Thank you!

------------------------------

I can also post few more recordings of Al Qasabji soon, just give me some time. But as I said, we need a permanent online storage place for the future members. I am glad you enjoyed them

* And Ed.. I'll try to give you some info on his life soon. When I'll have time I'll post here some translation of an article that has been published in March 2008 in "Al Akhbar" Lebanese newspaper.

Edward Powell - 3-24-2009 at 05:36 AM

Oh my goodness, the clips only last 3 months! ...so I am downloading NOW!

bibo10 - 3-24-2009 at 08:05 PM

this is great work. Reda, how did u get ur hands on these!!!

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 02:42 AM

is it possible to get them up somewhere downloadable? Everyone should have them... this stuff is GLOBAL ART HERITAGE.

Reda Aouad - 3-25-2009 at 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bibo10
Reda, how did u get ur hands on these!!!

I was arranging my files again :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Powell
is it possible to get them up somewhere downloadable? Everyone should have them... this stuff is GLOBAL ART HERITAGE

I sent Mike a U2U waiting for his reply to create a section dedicated for Al Qasabji on his website.

Reda Aouad - 3-25-2009 at 05:01 AM

This an article (in Arabic) on Al Qasabji entitled "Al Qasabji.. the oppressed genius?" from "Al Akhbar" lebanese newspaper (March 26, 2008), 42 years after he passed away.

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Reda Aouad
This an article (in Arabic) on Al Qasabji entitled "Al Qasabji.. the oppressed genius?" from "Al Akhbar" lebanese newspaper (March 26, 2008), 42 years after he passed away.

Wouldn't it be great to have a page dedicated to Him, and have this article translated?!

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Reda Aouad
Taqsim Rast dating back to sometime between 1924 and 1926.. Amazing ending!

http://www.wikifortio.com/822089/Taqsim%20Rast%201924-1926.mp3

one thing I really liked in this one is how he often uses a small modulation to the "masri sazkar" tetra-chord. THIS IS REALLY REALLY ARABIC AND YOU WONT FIND IT IN OTTOMAN/GREEK music...

It is like: DO - RE - MI (1/4b) - FA (1/4b)
wierd, eh?
you find this all the time in Egyptian folk!

Reda Aouad - 3-25-2009 at 06:07 AM

FA 1/2b or FA 1/4#?! Never heard of this tetrachord.

Reda Aouad - 3-25-2009 at 07:10 AM

Raqsat (The Dance of) Sayyid Mohammad - Bayat:

http://www.wikifortio.com/813152/Raqsat%20Sayyid%20Mohammad%20-%20B...

And here is the music sheet

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Reda Aouad
FA 1/2b or FA 1/4#?! Never heard of this tetrachord.

Fa 1/4b !!!

I think you will not find this one in ANY book! But it is very widely used, especially in folk music.

Beautiful!

Listen for it.

katakofka - 3-25-2009 at 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Edward Powell

one thing I really liked in this one is how he often uses a small modulation to the "masri sazkar" tetra-chord. THIS IS REALLY REALLY ARABIC AND YOU WONT FIND IT IN OTTOMAN/GREEK music...

It is like: DO - RE - MI (1/4b) - FA (1/4b)
wierd, eh?
you find this all the time in Egyptian folk!

This is a jins siga on D. Same thing can be done on G (LA 1/4 and Si 1/4), on C too ( C, D 1/4, Mi 1/4) doing jins siga on G and C respectively. I love those since they are unusual. In one of my videos on youtube you see that I have done it on F (G 1/4 and A 1/4) and C in the music called birdy namnam.
At 2.48 min the music began in that video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWLTua4DcJQ&feature=channel_page

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by katakofka

This is a jins siga on D. Same thing can be done on G (LA 1/4 and Si 1/4), on C too ( C, D 1/4, Mi 1/4) doing jins siga on G and C respectively. I love those since they are unusual. In one of my videos on youtube you see that I have done it on F (G 1/4 and A 1/4) and C in the music called birdy namnam.
At 2.48 min the music began in that video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWLTua4DcJQ&feature=channel_page

Mike - 3-25-2009 at 09:07 AM

hey guys,

wow...a huge thanks to Reda for sharing these gems with us all. i'd love to make a page dedicated to Ustaz Qasabji. let's do it. i'll be in contact with you Reda....

thanks again,
mike

katakofka - 3-25-2009 at 09:33 AM

Quote:

Matar mhammad used to do that a lot too
check that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNF7QNHSi4c&feature=channel
in which he's doing jins siga on G at min 4:40. as indicated in the annotation

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 10:10 AM

Wow, Matar is NUTS!
This kind of microtonalism really makes you wonder about the REAL POSSIBILITIES! Truly, the distance between C and C# is VAST! ...A LOT of wasted space in there!

Edward Powell - 3-25-2009 at 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike
hey guys,

wow...a huge thanks to Reda for sharing these gems with us all. i'd love to make a page dedicated to Ustaz Qasabji. let's do it. i'll be in contact with you Reda....

thanks again,
mike

BRAVO!

I really hope someone can translate that article!

mavrothis - 3-25-2009 at 11:39 AM

Thank you for all the clips! He is one of my all time favorite players and composers!

Take care,

mavrothis

Butrous - 3-25-2009 at 12:00 PM

Reda Aouad,

Sent you U2U.

Reda Aouad - 3-26-2009 at 08:03 AM

Hi Guys.

I sent Mike the recordings, the articles, some pictures and few more files I didn't post here.

We will all be waiting for him to post the files on this website, so as to preserve this amazing heritage and treasure Al Qasabji left us.

Thank you Mike.. We all owe you big one for this great forum

I have been member in this forum for the past 3 months, and so far I have learned from the members more than I could have learn in decades on my own, and Im sure all the future members, beginners and pros, will benefit as well, as it is a huge resource of information. I hope we all keep on sharing our experience and knowledge throughout this forum which brings oud lovers, players and makers together not as ever before. We can never reward you enough for the contribution you have made in uniting the oud community and offering people access to a continuously evolving knowledge base.

THANK YOU

Edward Powell - 3-26-2009 at 08:24 AM

YES!
THANKS MIKE!!! :xtreme:

Mike - 3-26-2009 at 10:30 AM

Got the email Reda...I'll work on this as soon as I can my friend. I'm excited about this. I haven't really had an update to the website in a LOOOONG time. This is gonna be good. Thanks again!

charlie oud - 3-26-2009 at 10:48 AM

I'd never heard of this player before, his music has a "Golden age" feel about it, plenty of soul and depth. Thankyou Reda :applause:

Reda Aouad - 3-26-2009 at 11:19 AM

Charile are you serious ?!

He's one of the composers for Um Kulthoum. He heard her sing for the first time in 1923 (she was 25 years old) on some theater in Egypt - she used to sing poems to praise the prophet Mohammad. He was astonished by her sound. The year after he offered her a song entitled "2al 7elif ma ykallemnish" (he swore not to talk to me) without her knowing that he composed it at first. Then it was the start of her glorious era after he formed her musical band and composed some of her songs for years, until the mid 40's, mixing between the traditional arabic maqamat and the western style. Then came a time (around 1945) when she started refusing his compositions and turned to Ryad Al Sonbati and others. She even got him off the lead of her band. He remained a oud player in her band (and not the leader) till the last day of his life just to make some earnings!! What a humiliation eh?

Edward Powell - 3-26-2009 at 12:00 PM

Really!? I had no idea about this story... you mean it was Qasabji who discovered her, composed her first hits, put together her band, and was the leader of this band?

I guess that means he must have been pretty well known before OK?

Why did she demote him.....

. . .I guess that was around the time when she 'finally' started working with Waheb?

Reda Aouad - 3-26-2009 at 12:27 PM

Well.. sort of demoted him. I don't know why and I don't know if she really wanted to humiliate him, but I doubt that she had bad intentions. She maybe just wanted to change style and introduce new spirit to her songs.

Al Qasabji's father was a oud teacher and a composer for several singers of that time. Mohammad loved the oud since his early years (as you may guess). He was at first a student of Islamic Religion at Al Azhar and then turned to a teacher of Islamic Fiqh (doctrine), but didn't stop his musical studies at the same time. Then he just dedicated his time to music. His first composition was "Malish maleek fi el 2albi gherak" (you are the only owner of my heart - literally speaking). It was sung by Zaki Mourad, the father of Layla Mourad. And this is when he started his professional musical career (Im sorry I dont know exactly in what year). He has been considered by the renowned musicians and critics as the best "modernist" in Egyptian music back then.
In 1927, he had his group composed of Sami Al Shawwa (violin), Mohammad El Ouqad (Qanun) and him on oud of course. Then he introduced to it a cello and a contrabass as an act of modernism and escaping of the traditional box. He composed hundreds of pieces, including music for movies and theatrical plays.
After he died in late 1996, Um Kulthoum kept his wooden chair empty behind her when performing on stage, valuing his precious contribution to her musical journey (until she died in 1975).

And the best part of the story: he taught Ryad El Sonbati, Mohammad Abd El Wahhab and Farid El Atrach !!

Reda Aouad - 3-26-2009 at 12:31 PM

And for some who may not know.. Um Kulthoum's band included an electric guitar, a cello and an accordion - that if I didn't miss any other "western" instrument.

DaveH - 3-26-2009 at 01:04 PM

http://www.aljadid.com/music/NewUmKulthoumBiographySearchesBehindth...

As has been noted on these forums before, just because you're a diva, it doesn't mean you always have to be nice...

Edward Powell - 3-26-2009 at 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Reda Aouad
And for some who may not know.. Um Kulthoum's band included an electric guitar, a cello and an accordion - that if I didn't miss any other "western" instrument.

well, at least it was not a METAL GUITAR :airguitar:

...or, who knows, might have been cool. I know Jimmy Page was greatly inspired by OK.

bibo10 - 3-26-2009 at 10:07 PM

well, i think he used to like um kalthoum. maybe thats why. women!!! haha

bibo10 - 3-26-2009 at 10:10 PM

i think i can translate the article but it will take time...also there is another guy who composed for um kalthoum, mohamed el mougi. he is supposed to be really good too, if anyone has anything for him!!

Edward Powell - 3-26-2009 at 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bibo10
i think i can translate the article but it will take time...also there is another guy who composed for um kalthoum, mohamed el mougi. he is supposed to be really good too, if anyone has anything for him!!

is mohamed el mougi an oudi?

Reda Aouad - 3-27-2009 at 02:42 AM

Mohammad Al Mouji was born in 1923. I don't know much about him. He is a famous composer for many great singers. His first composition was for Abd El Halim Hafez. He also worked with Um Kulthoum (in her last 10 years or so), Fayza Ahmad, Warda and others. He was the one who discovered Hani Shaker (a modern singer). He died in 1995.
Of course he composed melodies on his oud but I don't think he was an oudist for the public. If I come across any recording for him I'll post it.

Owain-Hawk - 3-27-2009 at 02:44 AM

Cool, thanks Reda Aouad.. All these clips and everything is jus brilliant and I've enjoyed them all so much. If it wasn't for you I would have never heard them.

BIG THANKS! :buttrock:

Reda Aouad - 3-27-2009 at 02:52 AM

Mohammad Al Mouji singing "Ana 2albi leek mayyal" (which was composed for Fayza Ahmad).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv1kwQl2tpo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK0_jepp3gs

Reda Aouad - 3-27-2009 at 02:55 AM

And the search page for Mohammad Al Mouji written in Arabic on youtube for you Ed:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=م...

Reda Aouad - 3-27-2009 at 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Owain-Hawk
Cool, thanks Reda Aouad.. All these clips and everything is jus brilliant and I've enjoyed them all so much. If it wasn't for you I would have never heard them.

BIG THANKS! :buttrock:

Owain, Im glad you are all enjoying the recordings

You will also find few more when Mike posts them.
It will always be a pleasure to share with all of you on this forum :cool:

DaveH - 3-27-2009 at 03:09 AM

See also this interesting thread from a while back:

http://www.arabicouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7997#pid5...

Reda Aouad - 3-27-2009 at 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DaveH
See also this interesting thread from a while back:

http://www.arabicouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7997#pid5...

That's one sad, disappointing story!!

bibo10 - 3-27-2009 at 09:31 AM

its actually an awful story...

New Qassabji page

Mike - 3-27-2009 at 11:16 PM

many many thanks again go to Reda for making this page happen. thanks buddy!

Mohammad el-Qassabji page

Reda Aouad - 3-28-2009 at 12:27 AM

:xtreme:

Edward Powell - 3-28-2009 at 02:27 AM

:bounce:

Owain-Hawk - 3-28-2009 at 04:10 AM

THANK YOU BOTH REDA AOUAD AND MIKE! WOW! :applause:

Butrous - 3-28-2009 at 05:36 AM

Second the motion!!

Mike - 3-28-2009 at 11:11 AM

Here are some great pictures Reda also sent me. I decided just to post them on this thread though. Thanks again to Reda.

Reda Aouad - 3-28-2009 at 11:15 AM

Thanks Mike

Just for a bit of explanation:

- the first picture is Al Qasabji the kid with his father
- the second one is when he was a student of Islamic Religion at Al Azhar

No need to talk about the rest

Hope you enjoy!!

Edward Powell - 3-28-2009 at 11:48 AM

SUPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bibo10 - 3-28-2009 at 12:51 PM

awesome thread...thx Reda and Mike

charlie oud - 3-28-2009 at 01:08 PM

Interesting, his playing position is the same as many paintings of 16th century lutenists. Left leg over right with the right hand and arm coming around the end of the oud in line with the strings. C

Reda Aouad - 3-28-2009 at 01:11 PM

Nice observation! I noted the unusual position but didn't know that info. Thanks.

charlie oud - 3-28-2009 at 01:32 PM

You're welcome Reda, what is also notable about this playing position is that up to the early 16th century the lute was played with a quill (risha). Therefore it may be reasonable to assume this was a common playing position for oud players during this period?. The lute having been copied/developed from the oud. Food for thought eh?. C