Butrous - 3-22-2009 at 09:04 AM
Hats Off to Edward Powell for starting many interesting discussions on mikeouds while in Cairo. I found all the comments intelligent, entertaining and
thought provoking.
Thanks to all for posting great links and music files, etc.
nayoud - 3-22-2009 at 09:48 AM
+1 here 
Reda Aouad - 3-22-2009 at 09:53 AM
Make them +2 
charlie oud - 3-22-2009 at 12:29 PM
Yeah, well done Ed, I was fascinated how you found the experience. Like you said, maybe not what you expected but still a discovery of true value.
Thank you so much for sharing with us, would like to share this, its not mine but it reminds me of your musical and personal journey.
"We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring,
Will be to arrive where we started,
And know the place for the first time."
T.S. Elliot.
Thanks again Ed for all your posts. Charlie
Edward Powell - 3-22-2009 at 12:44 PM
Butrous, THANK YOU!
I think the real thanks needs to go to MIKE! ...for starting this WONDERFUL INTERNATIONAL OUD MEETING PLACE! . . .AND all contributing members.
I am back now, in Czech, and just today went for a 4 hour walk in the woods with my partner. . . (now have headache - not used to all the oxygen!
)) ---but as I was just telling her, it very heartening to see how life always
tends to find a balance - meaning that even if Arab music is "suffering" on the ground, it is ALIVE AND WELL on Mike's Ouds! The on-line resouces,
like youtube and various other sites, provide a free availablility of astonishing magnitude!!! I would need another 6 months at least to begin to
fully digest all that has come to the surface on this forum as a result of my requests for help in understanding Middle-Eastern culture and music.
My presence on this forum will probably die down to certain degree now that I am back in Europe.... I need to get on with several other important
projects - and I am sure this will very soon become completely absorbing.
However, I will never by far away from this wonderful place - - - KEEP SUPPORTING THE OUD!!!
charlie oud - 3-22-2009 at 12:52 PM
Edited my post. Others contributed far more than I. C
Ararat66 - 3-23-2009 at 09:58 AM
If I had a hat I'd take it off to our Ed - lovely thread - I shall buy a hat tomorrow.
Leon
Mike - 3-23-2009 at 10:15 AM
Count me in on the "hats off" to Edward. It was really fun following your trip and reading all your thoughts during that trip Edward. Threads like
yours are what make these forums so fun to read and follow. Glad you made it back and survived your Egypt experience. As an Egyptian, who goes back to
visit often...I can usually only be there for 2 weeks at a time, then I need to go back home. Don't get me wrong, I love Egypt, and love going to
visit, but there's no place like home. So, good on'ya mate!
Edward Powell - 3-23-2009 at 11:44 AM
Thanks Mike!
But I really was left with a lop-sided and totally inaccurate impression of "Egypt". I really didn't see anything of "Egypt"... I just hung around
downtown Cairo for 3 months, and was a few hours in Alex, that's it.
I am left with the impression of a totally caotic, polluted place with INCREDIBLE VIBE AND ENERGY! ...but I am told that the water in places is the
cleanest in the whole world! ...and the oasises and deserts are appearantly "other-worldly".
When I went to morocco in '95 for 4 months with the same purpose, I was totally unable to stay more than a few days in Casa. Consequenty I had a nice
time in nature but didn't learn much about music. This time I bit the bullet and hacked it out in the Big Town. Yes, I had my "down period" around the
middle... but I stuck it out, and sure enough, soon things turned around completely - and it all ended with kind of a Bang.
In my experience, and my advice to others who will make such trips - is that it really does take time for things to begin ROLLING. When I was in
Istanbul for 7 months at a stretch, I only get about 2 lessons with Necati in the first 4 months, and we didn't really hit it off too well - - - but
in the last 2 months for some reason the chemistry sparked between us and we became really close. ---just an example of how these things REALLY take
time, and even when it seems like nothing is happening - things ARE happening! Just like when you plant a tree, it IS growing but doesn't look like it
for AGES.
I know now that good things often simply take TIME to develop. STAY IN ONE PLACE AND DON'T BE TOO IMPATIENT TO LEAVE. 
Again, THANK YOU FOR THIS FORUM AND ALL THE HELP AND SUPPORT you have given me!
katakofka - 3-23-2009 at 07:58 PM
3 hats from my side and a sombrero
Edward Powell - 3-23-2009 at 11:30 PM
...and a SUPER thanks to YOU Souheil!!! You gave me a serious education bro! I hope to be able to repay you somehow someday.
abusin - 3-24-2009 at 04:08 AM
and mine off too 
, thanks Ed for all the trouble taken during your
informative/ educational threads.
I did follow every bit of it and enjoyed it greatly I am sure like all forum members, I went nump when your laptop broke
man that was a tense moment, but was very glad when your posts started fllowing
again.
BIG UP ED
Edward Powell - 3-24-2009 at 05:34 AM
Thanks Awad! You are too kind.... I hope we can all do it again sometime
soon - - - let's see where life will take us 