Omar
is an unbeatable drummer and master of oriental wind
instruments.
Born to an Egyptian-Turkish couple in 1951, he expanded
his musical horizons between the banks of the Nile
river and the Bosphorus. At an early age in Istanbul,
he learned the art of the ney (flute) and other traditional
instruments like the zorna and the mijwiz, from Ismet
Siral and Burban Tonqe Orphan Genbay. He started his
international tour in Europe and continued to New
York, where he settled in 1976. His music has now
taken him to far-flung corners of the globe and further
collaborations. He has played with the late jazz trumpeter
Don Cherry, and has recorded with the Palestinian
lute and violin virtuoso Simon Shaheen, with Australian
percussionist and composer Michael Askill, and with
Armenian percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan.
"Sheshkin" belongs to the Turkish Gypsy repertoire,
but is also well known in various countries of the
Middle East by the name "Ya 'Ain Mulayitain".
(More
modern music of Omar)
H.
Aram Gulezyan is a scholar, a musician and an oud
master. Critics worldwide regard his art as superb.
One
of his contributions was the interpretation of a Pharaonic
Egyptian piece from a 2000 year old Coptic text.
Gulezyan has appeared
before many musical art societies in the United States
and abroad. In 1952, he was invited by Egyptian Prime
Minister Mohamed Naguib to lecture and give recitals
in Egypt.
He has deep knowledge of the musical
culture of several areas of the Near and Middle East,
including Armenian,
Arabic, Kurdish,Turkish and
Mediterranean music
in general.
The Oud is of Arab perpetuation. The first of its
kind, similar in body but with a longer neck, was
discovered in the tomb of Sen-Mut, a tutor of Princess
Neferura, who exercised great influence over the arts
during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut from 1501 to
1479 B.C.
The piece we present here is a dance melody, indigenous
to Kurdistan.
A
band from Turkmenistan in the former USSR playing
a fantastic oriental tune in maqam Bayati (an Arabic
music mode).
Written
by: E. Mansurov
Atabai Tsharykuliev: Vocals, Tar
Gassan Mamedov: Violin
Sabir Rizaev: Clarinet, Soprano Sax, Serp, Nagara
Kurban Kurbanov: Accordion, Piano
Khakberdy: Dep, Serp, Nagara
Sonia Slany: Violin
Jovelyn Pook: Viola
Caroline Lavelle: Cello
Bernd von Ostrowsky: Acoustic Bass
Farhan
Sabbagh is counted among the best oud players in the
Arab World
and he belongs to the younger generation. Born in
Homs, Syria, in 1948,
he studied oud at the Omar Al Khayyam Institute along
with Arabic percussion instruments. He pursued further
studies in classical Arabic music at the "Al-Funun
Al Masrahia" Institute (Institute of Performing Arts)
and later he studied composition at the Institute
for Oriental Music in Cairo.
He taught music at his hometown and performed as soloist
in many concert
and lecture tours in the Arab world. In 1972 (Damascus/Syria)
he received
the "Al-Farabi Prize" for composition and in 1974
a medallion for the best
musicality. He has given numerous concerts in Europe
as well as in the Arab
World: From the Royal Albert Hall in London to the
Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, to mention but a few.
Sabbagh's imporvisation is very fluid and his talented
modulations are quite beautiful.
Nay is probably the oldest pitched instrument known
to man. It is one of the most wonderful instruments
that has existed in the Middle East since the time
of the pharoahs. Nowadays it is played
in slightly varying forms from Morocco to Pakistan.
Nays
are made of reed and they come in different lengths,
each one being tuned to a specific pitch, so that
if you play a melody in one key, switching to the
appropriate nay will then let you play the same melody
but transposed to another key. The Nay
is the only wind instrument played in Arab music and
it has
a range of two and a half octaves.
Despite its relatively simple construction, its clear
sound gives it a special place in the Arab world as
an orchestral and solo instrument. The
nay is also the devotional flute that is frequently
used in Sufi mystic
chants. According to Sufi beliefs, the sound of the
nay is thought to express man's yearning for union
with God.
In this piece, Egyptian
Fawzy Hafez plays a Sufi tune accompanied by a loping
frame drum, the bendir.
