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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
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My trip to Cairo
Hi Everybody---
I have not been posting for ages, but it looks like I am about to start cuz next week I am off to CAIRO for 3 months of total immersion into ARAB OUD
LAND!
I am wondering if anyone has done this before (silly question)? I really need some advice!
-first, the basic things like where to find a decent and cheap hotel in a reasonable location?? this is my first concern...
-second, where to go to see and meet all the great young oud players
-where to buy a ready made oud
-etc etc
ANY COMMENTS OR ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
I would be happy to document my trip here if there is interest (another silly question!)
thanks
Edward
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SamirCanada
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post all you can edward!
it will be most appreciated.
good luck for your trip
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suz_i_dil
Oud Junkie
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I studied in arabic oud house, directed by Naseer Shamma, house el Harrawy. This is a touristic place also, so you will find the adress in any
touristic guide book, it is in Al Azhar area.
This school is not only around Naseer Shamma playing, for exemple my teacher there largely introduced me to old classical arabic and turkish.
I send you my email, via U2U if you need more info.
Regards
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
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yes, the arab oud house... must be a cool place! I will check it out.
however, at this time I am not so interested in the iraqi style... straight arab oud is what Im after and i am sure there is no shortage there.
where did you stay when in cairo, can you recommend reasonable area clean cheap hotels?
my guess is that the oudmaker shops and music schools will be the best places to meet oudis? ...well, I will soon find out.
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SamirCanada
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http://www.mauriceouds.com/
you should go visit maurice
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
Posts: 454
Registered: 4-29-2008
Location: North Carolina, USA
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Have fun on your trip... I'm completely envious.... 
Please take lots of pictures and share them with the forum...
Chris Walters
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
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Thanks Chris - and yes... I will!
Let me introduce myself a bit... of course you can see my website etc. . . . but otherwise -
essentially I began as a guitarist, turned indian classical sitarist for 20 years. About 15 years ago i fell in love with the oud, and began to get
into it.
in the last years i have spent a lot of time in istanbul studying with necati, and also building my own original instrument in faruk's workshop.
what i play now is my own doubleneck fretless guitar which is a bit like an oud and a sarod in one guitar body...
here are some LIVE clips
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iz3dzQzJDrE&feature=channel_page
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=100TI2B73mI&feature=channel_page
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZZ_Jsqcx5g&feature=channel_page
over the last 6 months I have been building a new BARITONE ragmakamtar--- and it is almost ready-
here are a couple of clips of the "oud neck" TEST CLIPS ONLY
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_WPzBI4h0l4&feature=channel_page
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne-eGhq_9gw&feature=channel_page
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suz_i_dil
Oud Junkie
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Just to precise this school is a good occasion to meet with other musicians, and is not close to other style.
Each of the teachers have his own style, it is not a Shamma clone industry...)
But the best is to go there and have a look, the lessons were 3 afternoons by week, you can go there around 5 pm to see how it works.
Moreover it may has change a lot, I was there 4 years ago and recent videos of the school orchestra on youtube show saz players, kemanche, pipa luth (
from Asia )...
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
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cool!
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shareen
Oud Junkie
Posts: 218
Registered: 8-28-2007
Location: Upstate New York
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Gee, you must be independently wealthy.  I have this pesky day job and a mortgage
that prevents me from being the world traveler I dream of being. I can only get away for max 2 weeks at a time. Have a great time!!
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
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haha! Well... without getting too personal regarding my circumstances - the truth be known. . . althought it has been my dream since 15 years (!)
to live in Cairo for a while... but since the EU changed it's visa requirements - now canadians must leave the EU completely every 3 months and be
OUT for 3 months. This situation has cause a lot of inconvenience for me since I basically live in Czech.
So at the moment i am using the situation to my advantage and getting in all the travelling I always wanted to do... in one way it is great because
otherwise my partner would never agree that i would just take off every 3 months FOR 3 MONTHS IN SOME EXOTIC COUNTRY. ---but the clincher is
something regarding marriage--- so in order to solve this problem we must make some BIG decisions.
regarding $$$ ---yes, in the meantime my living expenses have gone thru the roof. . . . therefore I will be looking to cut costs in any way I
can, if possible. In istanbul I managed to get all the music teaching I could dream of for free. The main expense- as always- is accommodation...
and this is really my main concern.
independently wealthy no... but I have no mortgage, and own no property, no debts, no obligations, no fixed job.... a real gypsy life
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1463
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
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Hi Edward,
I am also jealous, and I DON'T have a mortgage (at least not yet!).
When I visited Cairo, I stayed at the Windsor Hotel ("Fundaq Windisor" fi'l 'Arabi), which is where Michael Palin (Monty Python) stayed during his
pole-to-pole road trip film. (http://www.windsorcairo.com/) They are reasonably priced, but maybe not cheap enough if you are planning for 3 months.
I would recommend the Lonely Planet Cairo guide. They do have some info availble on-line, such as:
Cairo: Hotel El-Hussein (Hotel) 0.3 business Address:
Midan hussein, Khan al-khalili , Cairo , Egypt
Show on map
Lonely Planet Review
Terry Carter
Lonely Planet author
It's worn, it's old, it's pretty gritty, but this hotel is about the best option if you fancy a location right at the heart of the atmospheric Khan
al-Khalili bazaar.
While this old hotel has the usual Cairo budget trademarks such as peeling paint, worn-out furniture and none-too-clean bathrooms, the character of
the area goes a long way to make up for it. The beds are okay compared to the other budget hotels in Cairo and while the rooms have seen better days
(an indeterminate length of time ago), they are reasonably clean and have great views of the square below. The big balconies are ideal places to sip a
beer after a long day sightseeing. The public spaces of the hotel are institutional and dirty, and the carpets were ripped in places, but given the
location you're either going to be out shopping in the nearby streets or hanging out on the balcony.
But maybe Lonely Planet has some info on finding sublet or longer-term apartments? Cairo Craig'sList?
Good luck,
John
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
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Hi John
Yes...! thanks so much... finally it looks like LP is what I need. Unfortunately I am in CZECH and English books are not available really -
especially in Ostrava!
But perhaps online I can get enough info to get me by for the first night or two - then once I am there it ought to be pretty straight forward...
maybe be able to pick up a second hand LP book?
Couple of other questions for Y'ALL..... my plan is to get a hold of sheet music for some quite widely know classical pieces. Then make my way
around to meeting as many oudis as possible - DV camera in hand, and encourage them to play for me. [this tactic worked wonders in istanbul and I have
about 15 hours of prime footage!] ...so, can anyone recommend somewhere online where one can download sheetmusic???
Secondly, [now we are getting more technical] would anyone be able to come up with perhaps a short list of well known classical pieces showing a
comprehensive selection of maqam usage? Pieces which when studied would give the learner a clear standard picture of how the major maqams are working.
. . pieces that your average conservatory oud student will all know.
I'm not sure how long Arab pieces are compared to Turkish saz semai... but if the length is comparable, then 12 - 15 pieces will probably do me fine
for 3 months study. . . .
THANKS... if anyone can help me with this!
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shareen
Oud Junkie
Posts: 218
Registered: 8-28-2007
Location: Upstate New York
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Mood: Dreaming
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Here's something that will allow you to meet and live with locals for a bit. Try "Couch Surfing". It's a website that hooks you up with people that
welcome guests into their homes. I think it must be couchsurfing.com or something. Google it. I was going to do that last year when I made plans to
go to Cairo but I came down with the flu and had to stay in Jerusalem instead of going on to Cairo. Good luck!
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Marina
Oud Junkie
Posts: 615
Registered: 9-1-2005
Location: Bosnia
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Mood: Enthusiastic
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Google the "Roma pansion" in Cairo - I staid there - very good & center & reasonable price.
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
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thanks Shareen and Marina... I have heard of couch surfing and it sounds like particularly a great idea in expensive countrys! Probably i will go
for a private living place since I will need my own zone to concentrate on oud stuff...
Roma pension sounds good... and I can see now that this downtown area must just be full of places to stay, so there ought not be a problem - - - but
you know how it is, before going to an unfamiliar city for the first time, the first fear is where to stay....
Actually i am much more concerned about the music. My main experience with makam music is turkish. ---and I have somewhat of a handle on that now. I
am now really sure how arabic music is laid out... my guess it is pretty similar, although a lot of the classical repertoire is made up of songs by
om kalsoum, riad sombate, mohamad abdel waheb etc etc...
if anyone can help me with this it is appreciated. But anyway, very soon i will be in the middl of the source, so all info will be at my fingertips
:-)
it's going to be a very old dream come true. . . . . . .
as you know, I do not perform with an actual oud... I perform on my fretless guitar which is set up just like an oud. But i will buy a decent oud in
cairo for study. In istanbul i managed to sift thru the crap and found a really decent oud for 200Euro! ---then sold it in Czech for 400Euro :-)
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nayoud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 137
Registered: 5-29-2007
Location: Cairo, Egypt -Berlin, Germany
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Mood: Meditative
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Great so at last you decided to go!! ... good luck .. I'll send you a phone number of someone you can call for help regarding Arabic classical music
in Cairo.
Cheers
Hisham
Hisham
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
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THANK YOU
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Marina
Oud Junkie
Posts: 615
Registered: 9-1-2005
Location: Bosnia
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Mood: Enthusiastic
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Maybe I'll come in February.
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
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Cool!
I'll be there insha-allah!
Let's hang!
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
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Hi Everybody....
well, I made it down here in one piece, and have actually managed to get myself settled into a pretty nice spacious double room overlooking Cairo's
main drag
downtown. My hotel doesn't have Internet but I noticed that my laptop picks up a strong WIFI signal from the Hotel across the street so I went over
there and
asked them if I could use their Internet in their lobby with my own laptop for 30 minutes............... :-)
Cairo is amazing... like a cross btw Istanbul and Calcutta. I have taken quite a few fotos of the streets and such but I think I will limit my
posting to
fotos concerning music, ouds, and oud making in general.
So far I have been here just 3 nights and my time has been spent on searching for accommodation and an oud. I think I have a good enough room--- so
that is
taken care of... and I just got back from purchasing an oud.
Mohammed Ali street, or "oud street" (as I like to call it), in fact does not have as many oud shops as I imagined, but still there are PLENTY! There
are
basically no really good ouds there - or, just one quite good one. Most are hardly worthy of Faruk's "oud-like object" description. But what would one
expect
for $20!!
There are also an astonishing number of bad sounding semi-profi level ouds there all for around 100Euro. My objective was to find something I could
live with
for these 3 months and simply use for practice and the study of Arabic maqams - then sell later for a profit. Over the last 3 days must have tried at
least
50 ouds. Only a few of them sounded halfway reasonable, and just 3 sounded quite good. One was way too expensive, the other, although having a great
sound -
has an incorrect neck angle, and the third, I just purchased one hour ago :-)
I bought it at a shop called MARKO. This is the only shop on OUDSTREET that is run by musicians! In my opinion the only shop worth visiting in the
whole
place. The instruments they have sound good and their prices are very low. They know music and can help with this also. In fact I got a very good
lesson in
Arabic maqam from the guy who I bought the oud from, and I will go back there many times I am sure. Also, the first day I was there I met an entire
Algerian
group that is performing tonight at the OPERA house (missed that)... but the point is that on oudstreet, this is the only place that has anything
remotely
resembling a musical atmosphere, or a kind of 'hangout' for real musicians. If I am wrong PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE correct me and tell me where this
musical
place is because this is what I am looking for. some thing like Ramazan's oud shop in Istanbul - a place where there is a constant and steady stream
of good
musicians coming and going hanging out and playing.
Anyhow, now I have my room and my practice oud, so the next on the agenda is to learn a bit of Arabic, and also to start making contacts, and finding
out
where all the cool concerts are happening :-)
...and to seek out and visit the really really good oud makers.
I also want to find someone who can teach me what is REALLY happening with Arab microtonalism. You know the Turkish official system there are 9
divisions to
the wholetone - this is still not completely accurate, but much more accurate than the official Arab system which only divides the whole tone into 4
division. I hope I can find someone to show me how the microtones are REALLY placed in Arabic music.
I hope you like the pictures from Oudstreet, Cairo!
[img]http://www.andreamurdock.com/CAIRO/ouddoc1 (2).jpg[/img]
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
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not sure why the rest of the images didn't work - - - can anyone help me with this?
thanks!
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
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[img]http://www.andreamurdock.com/CAIRO/ouddoc1(2).jpg[/img]
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
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Sounds like a very interesting trip....
Probably the resolution is very high, so you may need to resize the images...One way is to open them up in
photoshop and "save as" with half the resolution...
Start a new post too - am sure it will be worth it 
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Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
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Mood: g'oud
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[img]http://www.andreamurdock.com/CAIRO/ouddoc1(2).jpg[/img]
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