A few weeks ago I shared some Egyptian songs, and we explored some of the “classic” composers and singers that are dear to Egyptians. We mentioned the likes of Umm Kulthum, Riad Al Sunbaty, and Mohamed Abdul Wahab, and Said Darwish. There was something missing from that post. Where was the Oud element to all that? How do you explore this music on Oud? The task is fairly difficult. For…
Read MoreThe Most Important Thing in Arabic Music: Music Interpretation
Last week I talked about how I learned to use techniques and embellishments in my Oud playing, and now I want to demonstrate this in action. I’ll show you three ways I interpret my own music and apply different techniques and embellishments to the same basic melody to create different a different feeling and vibe. If you want to these techniques and learn more about how and when…
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 MoreLearn Guli Ya Hilu on Oud
A few weeks ago you learned how to play a basic Jurjunah (Jurjinah) Rhythm on the Oud. Now it’s time to learn an actual song in this rhythm. We’ll learn Guli Ya Hilu, a well-know traditional Iraqi song. Check out the video below. Guli Ya Hilu is in an obscure Maqam called Lami. For information about this maqam listen to Jamil Bashir’s taqsim. You can also check…
Read MoreBaba Bahri
Want to learn a song on the Oud in under 5 minutes? Baba Bahri is the way to go. Not only can you learn a new song quickly, but you’ll also learn another rhythm. Not a bad deal if you ask me… Oh yeah… and if you like notation… Baba Bahri Baba Bahri is often found played as a medley with Sidi Mansour. Listen to the recording below and…
Read MorePlay Sidi Mansour
Who doesn’t know this song? This is a classic! And now you can learn how to play it on the Oud! I didn’t start listening to the classic Arabic artists like Farid Al Attrash or Oum Kulthum… in fact I didn’t really get it or like it… This is one of the first Arabic songs that I heard which got me more interested in learning Arabic music.…
Read MoreSamai Bayati Al Aryan Part 3 with Advanced Oud Techniques
As promised, we are forging onward and this means we’re going to learn the teslim of this Samai instrumental. The teslim is like a refrain, and repeats a few times during the performance of a Samai. It’s very catchy too. So if you learn the teslim, you’ve learned most of the Samai. This particular teslim is not that difficult because it uses a short descending repetitive melodic pattern that just…
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