Today, you are going to add a great tune to your repertoire: Raqsat al-Gamal.
Why is this such a good tune?
Here are 3 reasons.
- It’s in Maqam Hijaz (everybody loves hijaz)
- It has a cool modulation. (Watch the video to learn it)
- It’s the perfect tune to jam with friends.
There’s nothing better than having a tune that you can play with a drummer and pass around solos to people when jamming with friends. Raqsat al-Gamal is one example of an Arabic tune which you can do that.
It features a great rhythm called Wahda Sunbati or Wahda Tawila which is kind of like Ciftitelli.
You can play the rhythm with the strings of your Oud in a basic way. Using the root of Hijaz (D) as the “Dum” (bass tone), and the 4th degree in the scale (G) as a “Tek” (high tone). If you have trouble counting the rhythm, you can employ the counting above.
This is a very skeletal way of playing this rhythm on Oud, but you can learn a more nuanced version if you enroll in “Easy Oud Songs” Course.
After the playing the melody through once, you can hold this rhythm and let a friend have a solo, or let the darbuka play go nuts. Trade off solos with other instruments. Go into a taqasim on the beat. Anything goes. Then you can go back into the melody and finish the piece.
You might not be at the level in order to actually do these advanced things, BUT, you can start by learning this piece and keeping it up your sleeve for the future.
Give this tune a try now and see what it’s like.
Ready to learn more easy Oud songs?
Enroll in “Easy Oud Songs” today.
