oudmood
Oud Lover
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What type of Oud is played in Armenian music
Hello everybody,
I am new to the forum and new to oud.
I was wondering which type of oud is played in traditional Armenian music, the turkish or arabic model.
Wikipedia makes it seem like the turkish style model, but when I see photos, it looks like an arabic style model. Anybody here more knowledgable?
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FilipHolm
Oud Maniac
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I believe the turkish variant is most commonly used in Armenia.
It makes sense geographically, too
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Doc139
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Mood: oud-sick
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you are right, that's how it is.
alexander
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oudmood
Oud Lover
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Thanks, do you all know if they traditionally play in a specific tuning?
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Jody Stecher
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The oud as played in present day Armenia and the oud as it is played by Armenians in diaspora are not the same music.
The typical Armenian oud tuning in the USA is
E AA BB ee aa dd
Earlier, in Turkey, it was often a five course instrument tuned
AA BB ee aa dd, or in the same arrangement tuned higher or lower according to circumstances.
If you use the Search function of this website you are likely to find out everything you want to know on this subject.
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hartun
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Jody is right to say that in the Republic of Armenia they play a different type of music, however to my knowledge they do use Turkish style ouds
(probably manufactured in Armenia) and I think they use the EABead tuning as well.
In the US, most Armenian players, and certainly all Armenian players playing the customary Armenian folk/dance music tune to EABead. They will play
the Ottoman classical pieces mostly in E, as is customary, using the third course as the tonic, but when they play folk/dance music they almost always
play in A and use the second course as the tonic. If you want to play "kef music" you're going to be playing in "A" 90% of the time. Except when you
play in Rast/major key and then you play in G one note down from the usual tonic note. I mean there are a few exceptions, for example the song
Hars-oo-Pesa they usually play lower in D since it goes all the way up an octave in its melody. There are probably some other songs with a similar
wide range that they play in lower keys for that reason.
Keep in mind if you listen to Marko Melkon he usually had all his strings tuned a half step down, i.e. he played not in A but in A flat. So did most
of the other Armenian oudists in his generation. (not Hrant though)
Also take note Richard Hagopian having gotten older can no longer sing out of the high A minor that the kef bands usually play in. So he now tunes a
whole step down to DGAdgc and sings out of G minor. Consequently everyone else has to tune a whole step down when they play with him. So again if you
see a video of Richard if it is recent (as most of them are), or if you get a recent bootleg tape from someone, he's probably playing tuned a whole
step down. Not the case for his recordings since his last recording was in the mid 90s.
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oudmood
Oud Lover
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Thanks for replys
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