Welcome to another Oud Geek album review.
I have been listening Jamil Bashir’s album for quite some time now, and as they say, it’s an oldie but a goodie!
If you haven’t heard it yourself yet, it is available for listening at the link below…
Mike Oud’s Rare Listening – Jamil Bashir and more (Jamil Bashir is at the top)
Please read the biographical information on the link above for information about Jamil Bashir.
The Album
It is a very simple album. All the tracks are short taqsim from 2 – 3 minutes in duration. If you listened to the whole album from start to finish, it would sound like a long taqsim modulating from here to there, yet reiterating common themes throughout.
Jamil Bashir was an Iraqi oud player, and the Iraqi style is prominent in this album.
Jamil’s oud may sound different to you for some reason. It might be because he uses an Arabic Oud but tunes it a full step higher akin to Turkish tuning, DGBEad (low string to high string).
Functionally, there could be two possible reasons for this:
1. It was his preference, and he preferred the bright ringing sound…
2. He might have been playing with instruments that play in different keys as his old videos from his era attest.
Whatever the case, it is good to know.
This is a good album to listen to and even play along to and try to copy his phrasing and melody because his taqasim is a bit slower than other Arabic Oud players’.
In order to play along with it without changing your tuning…
You could try using a guitar trigger capo… (but be careful, don’t use a conventional capo or you might damage your fingerboard)
or
Use the program Transcribe to bring the pitch down by a whole tone.
He plays a lot of Bayati on the second string which he tuned to “A” so another way you could play this key is to stay in Arabic tuning and play everything on your fourth string because his two top strings are tuned to A and D. Which corresponds to the 4 (A string) & 3 (D string) on our Ouds.
The Tracks – With Some Interpretation
Orfa is a Bayati based maqam, which is played from A by Bashir. The Ajam trichord from C D E is emphasized in Bashir’s playing.
From the outset, Bashir’s playing really reminds me of Persian traditional music:
1. The improvisation style, and phrasing is slower.
2. Modulation in the upper tetrachord often reflects Dashti, and Bayati Kord.
3. Elsewhere in the album, he plays Maqam that are identical to and found in Persian repertoire like Dacht (Avaze Dashti), and Mukhalef (Mokhalefe Segah).
Husayni is very similar to Maqam Husayni as in Arabic and Turkish traditions. The upper jins Bayati (Ussak in Turkish) is played the most. Bashir plays Husayni in A, and the upper jins Bayati falls on D played on his top string.
Bashir plays a lot of this album on the first two courses.
This track begins in the lower Bayati region and ascends with F quarter sharp to A. After developing this lower bayati region, a modulation to Bayati Shuri occurs on D Eb F# G (Hijaz).
This track is my favorite because it provides a distinct link between Persian and Iraqi repertoire. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought I am listening to a Persian Oud player. That is how similar Jamil Bashir’s Dacht is to Persian Avaze Dashti. Below is a link to hear Avaze Dashti recorded by myself in a different tuning.
Auchar is a very interesting mystery to me. Some sources indicate that Auchar comes from the Persian mode Afshari. Linguistically, this may be valid, however musically Afshari and Auchar are very different in feeling and intervallic structure.
The way Bashir plays Auchar, it sounds more like an amalgamation of Maqam Sikah, Iraq, and Huzzam in one taqsim.
The tonic appears to be B quarter flat, and you hear a leading note very often on G two notes below the B quarter flat. This is very much the hallmark of Sikah-like Maqamat.
If you like comparing, you can hear Persian Afshari on this link below.
Madmi is a hijaz based maqam. Now, I am largely unfamiliar with Iraqi style of Oud playing apart from the repertoire of Jamil and Mounir Bashir. So when I first heard this track I was really fascinated to hear Bashir play Madmi exactly like Persian Avaze Esfahan. Below is a piece I recorded from the Persian traditional repertoire (Radif of Mirza Abdollah). I hope you listen to this track and the one below to try and hear the similarity.
Lami is another interesting Maqam. It is not very common to hear in other Arabic repertoire. It is created by putting two jins Kurd together. In this case, Bashir plays Lami from A, making the range of notes A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A. Take note however, that you will seldom hear the tonic which is A. This is one of those maqams which reading the scale note for note without hearing the Maqam puts it into even more confusion, because in Lami the 4th note of the scale is emphasized, not the tonic, A.
Swehli is highly comparable to Maqam Saba, if not exactly the same.
Abudhiye really takes me back to Persian music. It really gives these feelings of Dastgahe Shur. But most of the taqsim develops something that sounds like Bayati on D, with a lot of pausing on the 5th note in relation to D on the high octave, A.
Awj is a word we have in Persian repertoire as well, but Iraqi Awj is quite different from the Persian version. In Arabic and Farsi Awj means top, or height. This may be reflected in the Maqam in that Awj develops the upper region of the Maqam. In Persian traditional music, the development of Awj occurs late in the Taqsim or composition creating a climax effect. After Awj, you can modulate, or resolve to the base of the Maqam. But I do not know if it has the same function in Iraqi music.
This track reflects an arc in melodic development. The first half of the track is an introduction to Maqam Saba, at 1:50 the high octave is introduced, and Bashir descends into Mukhalef which is characterized by a Hijaz tetrachord on D. After some embellishment on a chord, Bashir descends to the tonic by means of Mukhalef, and Maqam Iraq, and Maqam Saba. The tonic is the B quarter flat.
Riqbaniye is very beautiful. A very soulful sound. To my ear, it is akin to Maqam Suznak, introduced by a Rast tetrachord on G followed by an upper Hijaz tetrachord on D. But what puts Bashir’s version apart from other Suznak is that he likes to pause and rest on B quarter flat often.
Phewww…
I hope that made some sense. This is just the way I listen to taqasim… I am always interpreting through the eyes of a Persian musician, and love to make comparisons.
If you are just getting into the Oud it would be a great start to take advantage of the audio on Mike Oud’s Rare Oud page and really digest all of that music. A lot of work went into putting those old records online, and they are there for Oud lovers like you and I.
I know I will be revisiting those old records from time to time.
Go back to the earliest recordings of the Oud and take what you can from them. All the modern players of today gained their inspiration and repertoire from the old masters. It’s a good start to go to the source.
Did you listen to the album? What else can you tell me about it? What did you love or hate about it? Let me know in the comments below.
Photo Credit: MikeOuds
Hello dear Navid, would you please upload Targan’s album? Actually I’ve been looking for his album for a long time. Thank you.
Jamil Bashir influenced the Iraqi music in general with his innovative music. Jamil and his brother Munir were the first students of the Turkish musician Sherif Muhyedin Haider who was appointed as the dean of Musical Studies Institute in Baghdad in 1936. Also the Bashir brothers were born in Mousil, and Mousil with its location in the north of Iraq, it had a lot of Turkish and Kurdish families, so that might have also influenced the way the Bashir brothers played oud. When someone asks me how does Iraqi music sound like, I always refer them first to the recordings of Jamil and Munir Bashir because their music sums up the essence of Iraqi music.