It was 1997 and I was about 13 when I first fell in love with the Oud. At that time, the internet was still a baby, we didn’t even have internet access at the time. The only recording I had of the Oud was a short clip from Microsoft Encarta 97’ that came with the PC my family bought that year. In 1998, I had the…
Read MoreIn Memoriam: Said Chraibi
The Oud world lost one of it’s greatest heroes of the Oud this week. Said Chraibi passed away Thursday March 3, 2016. This is a great loss especially for me. Said Chraibi was one of the first Arabic Oud players I was ever exposed to. I first heard his playing on the Fez Festival CD Box set “B’ismillah”. He played a piece from his album “Oud”, called Souleimane. Hearing…
Read MoreOud Practice
I’m an introvert. Playing the Oud allows me to enter my own world. Even though I have a lot of performing experience, I think playing the Oud has always been a stress reliever, and I always get energized after I play the Oud. How about you? Are you an introvert? Oud practice I come to the Oud from Persian music. Persian music, at it’s core,…
Read MoreDecember Oud Exercise Challenge
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES! Oud Exercises Teaching Video Week 1 Post your exercise videos in the comments below. In the meantime, you can watch mine… Before Video Week 1: This is how I play the Oud exercises before daily practice of 15 minutes. After Video Week 1 Oud Exercises Teaching Video Week 2! Before Video Week 2 After Video Week 2 Teaching video Week 3 Before Video Week 3…
Read MoreWhat’s the most exciting Arabic musical form? Here’s what I think…
If you’re like me, then you like to hear a little bit of everything in the music you listen to. You need a good balance. You can get that with this one type of musical form, which is super fun to play and learn. It’s called Tahmila. Tahmila is great because it’s dance music, traditional dance music. It’s bound to be fun because it’s usually played with…
Read MoreSamai Ajam
BDCW Jingle
Read MoreYou CAN Play Rock Music on the Oud – Purple Haze Oud Cover
Can you play Rock music on the Oud? Hell yes! And why not? I’ve decided to test the limits of the Oud’s ability to play different types of music, and I’ve decided to try my hand at Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, because why not? No one has done it before! It’s time to expand the repertoire of the Oud. Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix was practically a…
Read MoreThe Ultimate Guide to Persian Music
Persian Music is EASIER to Learn Persian music is definitely not as popular among Western peoples as is Arabic and Turkish music. There could be many reasons for this, but I think the two biggest ones are: 1.) The political climate of the last 30 years has closed off Iran’s cultural heritage to the world to only a select few with the tenacity to pursue it. 2.) The music itself rather introspective,…
Read MoreSawt Al-Khaleej
Today you’re going to learn about a really important genre of Arabic music. This music is timeless and ancient. It is very different in tone and feeling than Arabic music in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. You can call it Sawt Al-Khaleej, or Sawt for short. Sawt music is the Arabic music I find very intriguing. The rhythms are very unique, and the Oud playing is absolutely furious.…
Read MoreCan you Dance to Traditional Persian Music? Reng-e Nava by Hossein Alizadeh
It’s no secret that Persian musicians are pretty serious guys and gals. Have you ever been to a Persian concert? It’s no dance party, that’s for sure. But if you take a really good look at the music, and the history, you’ll find that Persian music has dance written all over it. That’s what I’m going to demonstrate this week… No, I’m not going to dance… I’ll perform…
Read More
