Brian Prunka
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Instrumentals
Fellow oudis!
I have had many requests for reference recordings to accompany my book of transcriptions:
Classical Instrumental Arabic Music
I can't legally put together most of my reference recordings because I don't own the copyright, but it occurred to me that a youtube playlist would be
a good idea. If anyone wants to help contribute, you can add videos to the playlist below, or just add links here and I will add them to the
playlist. I'm going to try to do as many as possible but this seems like an ideal candidate for crowdsourcing, especially since the native Arabic
speakers may be able to find some that would elude the rest of us. Multiple versions welcome, but try to stay with professional performances
(especially any older ones)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmPXvsgCIwDmaFLhW_pIKgZmWn8Cb...
Here is the table of contents, for reference:
Table of Contents:
Bashraf Bulbul Al-Afrah
Sama‘i Bayati – Ibrahim al Aryan
Sama‘i Bayati – Iskander Shalfun
Sama‘i Bayati – Slah Eddine Manaa
Sama‘i Bayati Qadim
Tahmila Bayati
Sama‘i Husseini – Tatyos Efendi
Sama‘i Muhayyer – Çemil Bey
Sama‘i Ussak – Aziz Dede
Sama‘i Nahawand – Mesut Çemil
Sama‘i Nahawand – Safar ‘Ali
Sama‘i Nahawand – Tevfic Kolaly
Sama‘i Nahawand – Yusuf Pasha
Sama‘i Nahawand (Sihr al-Sharq)– Abdel Mun‘im Hariri
Sama‘i Nahawand – Ali Darwish
Longa Nahawand – Kevser Hanim
Bashraf Farahfaza – Isma‘il Haqqi
Sama‘i Farahfaza – Çemil Bey
Longa Farahfaza – Riad al-Sounbati
Sama‘i Sultani Yekah – Haçi Arif
Sama‘i Nawa Athar – Jamil ‘Awis
Bashraf Rast – Tatyos Efendi
Sama‘i Rast – Tatyos Efendi
Sama‘i Rast – Mohammed el Qassabji
Sama‘i Jiharkah – Safar ‘Ali
Sama‘i Huzam – Mohammed Abd el Wahab
Sama‘i Hijaz – Mohammed Abdo
Sama‘i Hijaz – Refik Talat Alpman
Sama‘i Shahnaz – Nikolaki
Longa Shahnaz – Adham Efendi
Sama‘i Shadd Araban – Çemil (Jamil) Bey
Bashraf Muhayyer Kurd – Asdik Aga
Sama‘i Hijaz Kar Kurd – Tatyos Efendi
Incidentally, I am working on a sequel to this book, if you have anything that you'd like included, list it here and I will try to include it. I'm
also working on a book of taqasim transcriptions and analysis . . . I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm working on for that but I'm open to
suggestions there as well.
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Brian Prunka
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I should mention that while there are many Turkish versions of the some of the pieces (out of the 33 pieces in the book, 15 are exclusive to the Arab
tradition, while 18 are by Ottoman composers and are commonly played in both the Arab and Turkish traditions), the emphasis of the book is on the
Arabic repertoire and interpretation from the aural tradition in Arab culture, so I would like to keep this playlist to recordings in the Arab
tradition.
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Greg
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Thanks very much Brian. This is a great idea and a wonderful resource. You're the man. 
Regards,
Greg
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Jody Stecher
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Here are a few listening suggestions for a few of the pieces in Volume 1 that I gathered together before reading the request for Arabic versions
only.
Sama‘i Rast – Mohammed el Qassabji
the composer’s own recording is available right here on this website
http://www.mikeouds.com/audio/qassab/qassab_samai_rast.mp3
Sama‘i Bayati – Ibrahim al Aryan
the Cairo CD ensemble is a great choice especially because of the percussive rhythmic oud of Mamdouh El Geblay. But also the low fi recording of
Saliba El Katrib’s flights of fancy are worth hearing:
http://www.amar-foundation.org/saliba-el-katrib/
Sama‘i Nahawand – Ali Darwish
there’s a fine and dramatic performance of this samai recorded by the takht of Sami El Shawa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDyOcineRXI
Sama‘i Nahawand – Safar ‘Ali
there’s a straightforward oud rendition by Ahmed El Rashidi on an old Lyrachord recording. maybe it’s on the internet somewhere
Sama‘i Nawa Athar – Jamil ‘Awis
there are two nice solo oud youtube videos of this samai.
Khaled Bessa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRqSZUNocfg
George Kandalaft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALfc_NnirlU
Sama‘i Hijaz – Refik Talat Alpman
there is a lovely duet of kemance and oud by Cuneyd Orhon and Mutlu Torun. It’s on a Kalan CD.
Sama‘i Husseini – Tatyos Efendi
the amplified oud sound is maybe not lovely but the implied harmony brought out on the lower strings shows this samai in a new light when played by
John Bilezikjian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGYVcpDs8WA
Sama‘i Nahawand – Mesut Çemil
I’m aware of 3 recordings by the composer himself. Here’s one, a tanbur duet with E Batanay, starting at 8:08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqxTSz20U7k
there’s another in duet with ud player Mutlu Torun and another with tanbur and orchestra.
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ameer
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Here's a recording of Samai Ushaq Aziz Dede that I found a while back. It's tuned down which may be an issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIPIynyF80k
As for additional pieces:
Bashraf Rast - Asem Bey
Samai Huzam - Mohamed Abdel Wahab
Samai Huzam - Mohamed Abdo Saleh
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Brian Prunka
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Are you asking me if I've played them all? Of course, in the process of transcribing them I've played through all of them many times, and I go through
and play some of my favorites regularly.
Amir, thanks for the suggestions and the link. I have that same recording but I don't know who the ensemble is either.
I included the Abdel Wahab samai huzam in the last one, I'll check out the other Huzam samai and the Bashraf. If you have recordings for reference,
especially for the Bashraf let me know.
Thanks!
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ameer
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There used to be a recording of the Bashraf featuring Mustafa Said and others but I lost the link some time ago. Maybe someone here knows what I'm
talking about.
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Brian Prunka
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Of course, great suggestion! One of the first pieces I learned, thanks to that recording.
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Jody Stecher
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My suggestions in my earlier post yesterday were for reference recordings for the samai compositions in the existing book. For the planned second
volume I suggest Sama'i Rast by George Michel and Sama'i Hijazkar Kurd by Rohi Al Khammash.
Sama'i Rast played on oud by the composer plus violin, starts at 5:35 after a taqsim, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io0jnzL67qU
and Al Kindi's out of print CD version is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0QWqxqiYo
Rohi Al Khammash plays his Samai Hijazkar Kurd here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zWf-O70_9k
the samai begins at about 3:20 after a hypnotic taqsim.
Another worthwhile recording of Tahmila Suznak is by the trio of Qasabji, Sami El Shawa, and a qanun player whose identity I am uncertain about. It's
right here in another corner of Mike's Ouds website, listed as Tahmilla Rast:
http://www.mikeouds.com/audio/qassab/qassab_tahmila_rast.mp3
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Brian Prunka
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Wow, I hadn't really checked out Rohi al Khammash much before, but he's been coming up lately. That Sama'i is great. I was a little familiar with
his Nahawand Sama'i but not this one.
That taqsim might get some attention also!
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Brian Prunka
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I actually have that al-Kindi CD.
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Rambaldi47
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I have not seen this Tahmilah Bayati on your playlist. Video quality is not
great (early 80s) but the sound quality is surprisingly good.
Tahmila Bayati - Fethi Zghonda & family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV0nQ-Lqyw4
Nate.
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Brian Prunka
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This is a nice tahmilah, but it's a different one than the one in my previous book . . . maybe for the next one!
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Rambaldi47
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Can you please share a recording of the tahmilah in your book?
Nate.
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Brian Prunka
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It's this one:
https://soundcloud.com/mohamed-eltamemy/ensemble-morkos-tahmila
From this album, a great wasla in Bayati, mostly Muwashshahat.
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Rambaldi47
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Thank you, Brian! 
Jody, the qanun player in Tahmillah Suznak is Ali Rashidi, recorded in 1927.
Another recording was made in 1928 by Shawa with al-Quddabi on qanun and Shahata Sa'ada on oud.
http://www.amar-foundation.org/031-the-tahmila/
Nate.
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Jody Stecher
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Thank you, Nate. I had not heard the 1928 recording before. What may have happened is that some commentators conflated memories of the musicians on
the two recordings into one event. That would account for the discrepancies I have found in identifying the qanun player on the 1927 session. The
1928 session may not have as much of the palpable musical/emotional atmosphere of the 1927 session —a force that transcends the relatively low
technical quality of the recording — but this 1928 session certainly has many outstanding musical moments.
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