DD
Oud Maniac
Posts: 91
Registered: 8-31-2005
Location: The same as yours, my friend.
Member Is Offline
Mood: one mirror reflecting another
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Exemplary Oudists and Key Recordings
Dear Friends,
Here is the update as of 1/21. Development is ongoing, so please post anything you're moved to say. Once again, this list is intended as a grouping of
musicians and recordings that exemplify the nature and spirit of the oud and its musical ecology. For convenience, the actual list is now positioned
toward the top of this post and the questions and other information are below.
Thank you all for this treasure.
ABDEL WAHAB (All. See note at FARID EL ATRACHE entry.)
AFIF TAIAN (All. Wonderful, good for the sake of a lot of oud.)
AHMED MUKHTAR (Iraq; The Road to Baghdad lots of Iraqi folk, no taqasim; Words from Eden; Ahmed Mukhtar Live; and Rhythms of
Baghdad; all available from his personal website at http://www.amukhtar.com/content/en/cds.htm)
AMER AMMOURI (Syria; classical style, good tarab Takasim Oud)
ANOUAR BRAHEM (Madar, with soprano & tenor saxophone and Indian tabla, note that Jan Garbarek's saxophone dominates in this recording,
and sometimes the CD is listed under his name; Barzakh, somewhat more traditional, with violin and M.E. percussion; Conte De
L'Incroyable, with clarinet, ney, bendir & darbouka.)
BUHIYDIN TAARGAN (All.)
CAGRIHAN ERKAN (Kasirga is awesome.)
CHARBEL ROUHANA (All.)
CINUCEN TANRIKORUR (Wonderful.)
ENSEMBLE MORKOS
FARID EL ATRACHE (All. Note that, despite the cheesy covers, the "bellydance" albums of this artist as well as those of ABDEL WAHAB offer a lot of
classic melodies and performances.)
FAWZY SAYEB (Tunis; Taqsims on the Ud)
GEORGE MICHEL (Melodies of the Oud, Global Village 829, Orient LPO 133)
GULCIN YAHYA (Hayallerim)
HAMZA EL DIN (All; especially Al Oud)
JAMEEL BASHIR (All.)
JIHAD RACY (Mystical Legacies is very good; see also note at SIMON SHAHEEN entry.)
JOHN BILEZIKJIAN (All; especially: The Magic of John Bilezikjian, superb playing; and Music from the Armenian Diaspora.)
KHAMIS EL FINO (Music for the Classical Oud, Folkways 8761; and Arabic Songs and Dances, Folkways 8763, especially great drum sound
on the latter.)
KEF TIME (A group featuring RICHARD HAGOPIAN and others, Traditional Crossroads 4269, Armenian and Turkish folk music, played brilliantly.)
MARKO MELKON
MARCEL KHALIFE (All; Jadal is probably his most technical work.)
MASTERS OF TURKISH MUSIC (Note: There are at least two sets of CD's with this title. Both are great, but the one specific to the oud has "Ud" as the
sub title and is published by Kalan. [The other, 3 volume set, is published by Rounder and is an excellent historical resource for Turkish music in
general.] The Ud set features the various styles of thirteen masters of the Turkish oud: UDI NEVRES BEY, SERIF MUHIDDIN TARGAN, YORGO BACANOS, FAHRI
KOPUZ, MISIR'LI IBRAHIM EFENDI, SEDAT OZTOPRAK, UDI NESET BEY, CEVDET KOZANOGLU, IBRAHIM ZIYA BEY, SERIF ICLI, UDI HRANT, CAHIT GOZKAN, and CINUCEN
TANRIKORUR. For some of these artists, this is the only commercially available recording. Most of the pieces are takasim. Note that there is a
significant amount of "old record" noise on these CDs.)
MUNIR BASHIR (All.)
MUNIR NURETTIN BEKEN (Art of the Turkish Oud, Beken has great technique and this album offers a good collection of Turkish oud music.)
NASEER SHAMA (All.)
NECATI CELIK (Yasemin, an amazing CD where CELIK performs exceptionally both in terms of technique and of soul; offers both earlier and more
recent compositions.)
OMAR BASHIR (Mainly the one with his father.)
RABIH ABOU-KHALIL (Al-Jadida, ENJ-6090 2, with accompaniment on alto saxophone, bass, and both South Indian and frame drums.)
RAHIM AL HAJJ (Iraq; Iraqi Music in a Time of War mostly or all instrumental w/lots of taqasim; available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rahimalhaj2/from/evor)
RIAD AL SONBATI (All. There is a great album of taqasim.)
RICHARD HAGOPIAN (All; especially Live at the Seventh Veil, an out-of-print LP that should be reissued—but without the canned applause;
this artist is an Armenian-American musicological genius and one of the finest oud players today.)
SAID CHRAIBI (Morroco; Said Chraibi - Maroc Oud)
SAID SALAM (Plays Oud is a great album for old-school sharqee-style playing.)
SALAH ARRAM (Salah Arram, self-titled, has good recording of Samais in Egyptian style.)
SAMIR JOUBRAN (Good for the sake of a lot of oud.)
SAMIR TAHAR (Aljeria; very skilled in knowledge of maqamat Les Virtuoses - Vol.7 Oud)
SIMON SHAHEEN (All; especially Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab; Turath, a good traditional album; and Taqasim, with JIHAD
RACY, which is SHAHEEN's only taqasim album and is fabulous.)
UDI HRANT (All; especially: Udi Hrant, self-titled CD, on which the beauty of his playing really shines through; The Early Years Volume
I, which contains very beautiful taqasims; The Early Years Volume II which hasn't the quality of the first but contains some superb
tracks—all 3 of the these available on Traditional Crossroads label— and, as 'HOUDI HRANT,' Master of the Oriental Lute, an LP, tough to
find but some of the music is especially lovely.)
UDI YORGO BACANOS (All or most, a great player from the Turkish school.)
YRUDAL TOKCAN (Has 2 CDs that are really good.)
ZAID RAHBANI (Bil Afrah is a must-have recording—as well as one of Jameel's all-time favorite albums!)
ZIRYAB TRIO (Good for the sake of a lot of oud.)
Some Outstanding Vocalists:
ASMAHAN (All. Sister of FARID EL ATRACHE.)
KHAZNADJI (Algerie, Anthologie De La Musique Arabo-Andalouse, Volume II; has many accompanying instruments including oud, remarkable album of
Noubas by Algerian singer, and such a voice.)
OUM KULTHOUM (All; especially: Enta Omri; Daret al Ayam; Hayyart albi; Maak; Amal Hayati; Lissa Faker; Alf Leila Wa Leila; Min Elli A'al; Ifrah ya
Qalbi or 'Albi'; Serat El Hob; a legend.)
SABAH FAKHRI (All; Great singer of Muwashshahat and Mawwals; recordings can be hard to find.)
Some Outstanding Violinists:
AHMED AL-HIFNAWI
SAMI SHAWA
Some Sources of Recordings:
Rashid Music Sales http://www.rashid.com/enter.asp
Maqam http://www.maqam.com
Traditional Crossroads http://www.traditionalcrossroads.com/
Tulumba (Turkish) http://www.tulumba.com/store.asp?tag=r06&t=Turkish+music
The above is a consolidation of the responses to this and an earlier post, 20 Exemplary Recordings of near Eastern Music with Oud. The annotations are from the forum members who responded to these two posts. Again, often
I've paraphrased your comments for brevity, so please tell me if I should change anything in that regard. For clarity and ease, annotations are in
regular type, titles of recordings are in italics, and names of MUSICIANS are in caps. The word "All" next to a name means that all of that
artist's recordings were recommended, with or without suggestions of specific recordings—and that reminds me: I have a question for you. First I'll
give you an illustration of what I'm getting at:
Let's say that you approached me about a similar collection but for a different kind of music: Celtic music, for example. One of my suggestions would
be albums 1 through 10 of the group known as The Chieftains (whose early albums were named simply by their chronological number). Then, if you said to
me, "How about if I could choose only 2 of those albums?", I would suggest 5 and 8, and if you could choose only 1, then I would suggest 8 (in fact, I
would say that if you have heard Chieftains 8, on good analogue equipment, you have heard the spirit of Celtic music). Now we've come to my question
for you today—which, as I wrote it, turned into 3 questions:
1. Might some of you like to offer some more "especially ______" to go with the "All" next to some of these great names? Let's look at Munir Bashir,
for example: The list as it stands just has the word "All" next to his name. How about if a person could chose only 1 or 2 of his albums; which albums
should they be, do you think? And Abdel Wahab, Farid El Atrache...?
2. May we also have more of your comments about the artists and their work? I personally have found these comments to be extremely helpful, and I'm
sure that many other members and readers have felt the same way, especially those of us who are still getting to know our way around in the world of
the oud and its music.
3. Would you like to add any more artists' names? If you think that an artist and his work express a significant facet of this multifaceted jewel of
world music, then I'm sure that we'd all like to hear what you have to say.
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jazzchiss
Oud Junkie
Posts: 217
Registered: 12-20-2004
Location: Madrid
Member Is Offline
Mood: Improvising
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Excellent work!
I imagine that a such list never finishes being complete. I wonder myself if some recordings of fusion, in which the oud plays a fundamental role,
would not have also to be included. In this sense, Anouar Brahem and Rabih Abou-Khalil have obtained a perfect integration with western music. In
order to mention only a CD of each one, I would choose:
Jan Garbarek / Anouar Brahem : Madar (ECM 1515)
· Jan Garbarek (ts, ss)
· Anouar Brahem (oud)
· Ustad Shaukat Hussain (tabla)
RABIH ABOU-KHALIL: AL-JADIDA (ENJ-6090 2)
. Rabih Abou-Khalil (oud)
. Sonny Fortune (as)
. Glen Moore (b)
. Ramesh Shotham (perc)
. Nabil Khaiat (perc)
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umut
Oud Addict
Posts: 35
Registered: 1-3-2005
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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this is really great. thanks for working on it dd.
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jazzchiss
Oud Junkie
Posts: 217
Registered: 12-20-2004
Location: Madrid
Member Is Offline
Mood: Improvising
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An album of Rabih Abou-Khalil can be listen at http://forum.eftekasat.net/index.php?showtopic=100057 (if you register)
...and one of Brahem at http://forum.mazajy.com/index.php?showtopic=5353
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DD
Oud Maniac
Posts: 91
Registered: 8-31-2005
Location: The same as yours, my friend.
Member Is Offline
Mood: one mirror reflecting another
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Thanks, you guys.
Yes, I was wondering about Anouar Brahem, Jazzchiss; I wasn't at all familiar with Rabih Abou-Khalil, and probably I, along with others, would have
missed him entirely—as well as Khaznadji—if not for your input. Thank you again, my friend.
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freya
Oud Junkie
Posts: 275
Registered: 2-8-2004
Location: Asheville NC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy in the mountains of WNC
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A few more...
You might need to go to 80+...
Khamis El Fino
Folkways 8761
Folkways 8763
(especially great drum sound)
George Michel
Global Village 826
Orient LPO 133
Gulcin Yahya
Hayallerim
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dahun
Oud Addict
Posts: 25
Registered: 12-6-2004
Location: Bellingham, Washington
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
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Masters of Turkish Music
There are at leat two sets of CD's with this title. Both are great, but the one specific to the oud has "Oud" as the sub title (there are other
volumes in the series, ney and kemance): published by Kalan; available from Tulumba. The other, 3 volume set, is published by Rounder and is a great
historical resource for Turkish music in general.
The significance of this set is that it features the various styles of thirteen masters of the Turkish oud from the time of Tanburi Cemil Bey to
Cinucen Tanricorur. For some of the artists, this is the only commercially available recording.
If you wish, I can come back and list all the artists represented in the album.
I hope that this clarification helps.
Great project!
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dahun
Oud Addict
Posts: 25
Registered: 12-6-2004
Location: Bellingham, Washington
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
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Masters of Turkish Music
Just as I pressed the post button, a typo flashed at me.
The spelling of the sub title of teh album is "Ud" not "Oud".
Apologize for the error.
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DD
Oud Maniac
Posts: 91
Registered: 8-31-2005
Location: The same as yours, my friend.
Member Is Offline
Mood: one mirror reflecting another
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| Quote: | Originally posted by dahun
There are at leat two sets of CD's with this title. Both are great, but the one specific to the oud has "Oud" as the sub title (there are other
volumes in the series, ney and kemance): published by Kalan; available from Tulumba. The other, 3 volume set, is published by Rounder and is a great
historical resource for Turkish music in general.
The significance of this set is that it features the various styles of thirteen masters of the Turkish oud from the time of Tanburi Cemil Bey to
Cinucen Tanricorur. For some of the artists, this is the only commercially available recording.
If you wish, I can come back and list all the artists represented in the album.
I hope that this clarification helps.
Great project! |
I'm grateful for your clarification regarding these distinct series and sets—and I'm thrilled about the contents of the Ud volume. Yes, since I
won't have that 2-CD set until next month (it will be in next paycheck's batch of disks), it would be great if you posted or U2Ued me the
artists' names. I'll incorporate them into the main list when I next update it in a week or so. Thank you!
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dahun
Oud Addict
Posts: 25
Registered: 12-6-2004
Location: Bellingham, Washington
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow
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Here are the artists on the 2 CD set (number of pieces in parentheses):
Udi Nevres Bey (5); Serif Muhiddin Targan (6);
Yorgo Bacanos (4); Fahri Kopuz (4); Misir'li Ibrahim Efendi (4); Sedat Oztoprak (1); Udi Neset Bey (2); Cevdet Kozanoglu (3); Ibrahim Ziya Bey (1);
Serif Icli (2); Udi Hrant (2); Cahit Gozkan (1); Cinucen Tanrikorur (3)
The booklet includes some historical material, biographies, pictures, printed music. Most of the pieces are takasim. I hope this gives you an idea.
Take care. Béla "Dahun"
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DD
Oud Maniac
Posts: 91
Registered: 8-31-2005
Location: The same as yours, my friend.
Member Is Offline
Mood: one mirror reflecting another
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Wow.
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hamed
Oud Junkie
Posts: 293
Registered: 1-18-2005
Location: Seattle, Washington
Member Is Offline
Mood: Iss'al rouhak
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you forget Said Chraibi (morroco) Samir Tahar (Aljeria) Fawzy Sayeb (Tunis) and Amer Ammouri (syria) Ahmed Mukhtar (iraq), Rahim al hajj (iraq) I do
not know where to purhcase their music, but if you google them i'm sure you will find out.
hamed
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DD
Oud Maniac
Posts: 91
Registered: 8-31-2005
Location: The same as yours, my friend.
Member Is Offline
Mood: one mirror reflecting another
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| Quote: | Originally posted by hamed
you forget Said Chraibi (morroco) Samir Tahar (Aljeria) Fawzy Sayeb (Tunis) and Amer Ammouri (syria) Ahmed Mukhtar (iraq), Rahim al hajj (iraq) I do
not know where to purhcase their music, but if you google them i'm sure you will find out.
hamed |
Thank you, Hamed,
Four of these artist are featured in Mike's Oud Music section with selections from one each of their CDs. They are:
SAID CHRAIBI (Morroco; Said Chraibi - Maroc Oud)
FAWZY SAYEB (Tunis; Taqsims on the Ud)
AMER AMMOURI (Syria; Takasim Oud)
SAMIR TAHAR (Aljeria; Les Virtuoses - Vol.7 Oud)
For the other two artists in your list, I found four CDs for:
AHMED MUKHTAR (Iraq; The Road to Baghdad; Words from Eden; Ahmed Mukhtar Live; and Rhythms of Baghdad; all available from his
personal website at http://www.amukhtar.com/content/en/cds.htm) ;
And I found one CD for:
RAHIM AL HAJJ (Iraq; Iraqi Music in a Time of War; available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rahimalhaj2/from/evor)
Do you have any thoughts on any of these albums? How about other recordings for those first four artists? Which albums do you like to listen to? Any
favorites?
Take care,
Don
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hamed
Oud Junkie
Posts: 293
Registered: 1-18-2005
Location: Seattle, Washington
Member Is Offline
Mood: Iss'al rouhak
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the ahmed mukhtar album (road to baghdad) had lots of iraqi folk, not any taqasim, so it dosn't demonsrate his tecknique, his other works are very
good, i think he studied under munir bashir and salem abdel karim, both the best virtuosos on oud.
rahim al hajj is great, i like his album, i think its all instrumental, lots of tqasim and music composed for oud.
Amer Ammouri i like alot, he has tarab, like classical style, a must for any collection. He plays oud for Sabah Fakhri orchestra, and before that for
salateen el tarab, vol 1&2.
Samir tahar and said chraibi i cannot tell you much about, i believe samir tahar has published a book about oud performance, i have not read it, but
he is very skilled in knowledge of maqamat more than technique el oud.
i hope this was of help.
hamed
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