Masel - 1-13-2013 at 11:18 AM
Yosef Yaakov earned the title "Yusef el-Awad" (Yosef the oud player) when he was only 14 in baghdad. He was of the generation of great jewish
musicians and composers who were known and loved in iraq, who immigrated to israel in the 1950s and fell to anonimity, because they came from a
culture at the time (still largely today) considered "lower" than the western culture.
In israel he became a car mechanic, and he went through bad times with his relationship with music - he once was so frustrated that he broke all his
ouds - but he eventually kept playing and he taught many musicians of the younger genrerations (Yair Dalal being the most famous) that are beginning
to realize what our parents and grandparents missed. Here are some recordings of his, maybe I'll upload more another time.
hijazkar taqsim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPo-BhL2ORg
bayat taqsim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkZTl1lxTS0
singing a song he composed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdfHBaYpnwg
Jono Oud N.Z - 1-13-2013 at 12:46 PM
Beautiful.
Really good to learn about Yosef Yaakov.
Yair Dalal was my first influence on the oud.
Thanks.
David Parfitt - 1-13-2013 at 01:33 PM
Can't thank you enough for this Masel!!!
All the best
David
David Parfitt - 1-14-2013 at 10:42 AM
I see from an article on the net that Shem Tov learned the oud from a Turkish guy called Sisak Bek. His style doesn't sound particularly Turkish
though, so seems as though he picked up other influences later on. Somewhere else I saw it written that he was friends with Jamil Bashir.
Anyone ever come across this Sisak Bek before? An internet search turned up an Udi Sisak here, but not much more info:
http://www.recordingpioneers.com/docs/Y-PREMIER_RECORD.pdf
David
Jaffa Road - 1-23-2013 at 01:43 PM
thanks for the post, I know of Yosef (z"l) from the stories and recordings of my friend and teacher Yair Dalal, who shared this video with me that
you might like / find interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzBMUDEfDT8
footage from Yosef's last birthday party.
I love the final shot, I have never before seen an oud on a tombstone
BTW I am looking forward to seeing Yair when he visits Toronto for a concert this weekend.
http://www.soundstreams.ca/Three-Faces-of-Jerusalem-Concert
oud lovers near Toronto should be aware of this concert