Oud

[catt]

I listened to hamza El din a lot - got me interested in the music altogether.

That was an Estampie I learned from someone - prbly derivative from occidental sources. I think there are a version or two somewhere online. (Thank you for your generous comments. It's no performance - I had just gotten the instrument and was trying risha.) I got it from someone local who advertised it on Craigslist.

*Indian classical music. I love it and have listened to a lot of it (since having my mind blown at shakti I've seen Zakir Hussein a bunch of times over the years. I always avoided studying it as I had way too many things already. It remains one of my favorite musics. Someone was selling a dilruba some while ago and I came very close to jumping in - I love sarangi - but, even while being a strings player I know it would take a deep dive to become fluent with the forms. I used to play hammered dulcimer a lot and listened to shivkumar sharma a lot.. )

[Rudy4]

David Lindley was mentioned earlier, I believe. There are several articles as well as Youtube clips of him playing Oud. His adaptation of the Oud to play American old time music selections is rather unique.

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks for posting the video of David Lindley, whom I knew and was much inspired by growing up in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California in the early '60s.
I have a Turkish oud. Many years ago, I took some lessons from Simon Shaheen's brother, whose name I don't remember. What I do remember is that he thought my playing sounded too Indian. Not a coincidence, since I had studied sitar for several years, both in the US and India. My teacher in India was Ustad Rais Khan.
That's interesting what David said about geared pegs. Tuning string pairs with tension pegs is a challenge. Some players use the type of peg that looks like a tension peg, but has an internal gear; that way you keep the traditional look, but tuning is much easier. If I were to try oud again, that's the way I'd want to go.
I tried to get David to adopt a cello banjo into his arsenal. His reply was that he was into the oud. I urged him to listen to one of my recordings. He said it did sound kind of "oudy" but it didn't seem to inspire him enough to grab one, even though I could have gotten Gold Tone to sponsor him with one. Quite an unusual guy, David; a really unique figure in the old folk music scene.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Paul Roberts

Thanks for posting the video of David Lindley, whom I knew and was much inspired by growing up in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California in the early '60s.
I have a Turkish oud. Many years ago, I took some lessons from Simon Shaheen's brother, whose name I don't remember. What I do remember is that he thought my playing sounded too Indian. Not a coincidence, since I had studied sitar for several years, both in the US and India. My teacher in India was Ustad Rais Khan.
That's interesting what David said about geared pegs. Tuning string pairs with tension pegs is a challenge. Some players use the type of peg that looks like a tension peg, but has an internal gear; that way you keep the traditional look, but tuning is much easier. If I were to try oud again, that's the way I'd want to go.
I tried to get David to adopt a cello banjo into his arsenal. His reply was that he was into the oud. I urged him to listen to one of my recordings. He said it did sound kind of "oudy" but it didn't seem to inspire him enough to grab one, even though I could have gotten Gold Tone to sponsor him with one. Quite an unusual guy, David; a really unique figure in the old folk music scene.

Peghed tuners or Perfection pegs certainly have the right look and function well, but that could get a bit pricey for the number of strings presented by Oud!

I've used Pegheds on several banjos and like them, but for my own use prefer Grover Sta-tites on my preferred banjos, 3+2 slot heads with a tunneled fifth.

Rudy 4;

Thank you for the Lindley vid--interesting.

Also, I don't know if anyone has mentioned Lark In The Morning on this forum, but it's an on-line company that sells instruments from around the world--the Oud is one of the featured instruments.

[Paul Roberts]

Lark In The Morning is where I got my oud, many years ago.

Paul;

I notice that prices at Lark in the Morning have become pretty steep, relative to many years ago.

[Paul Roberts]

Originally Posted by EvanB

Paul;

I notice that prices at Lark in the Morning have become pretty steep, relative to many years ago.

For ouds, that doesn't appear to be the case. Currently, they're listing five models: one is about what I paid 30 years ago; the others are considerably less.
Ascertaining quality obviously can't be done by seeing an ad. The guy who would probably know about the ones currently listed is David Brown, a multi-instrumentalist who worked at Lark for many years. He's active on Mandolin Cafe. Perhaps he'd care to join this discussion.

[catt]

If someone wants a quality instrument, I suggest skipping the drop-shipped stuff offered by Lark, Mid East, Amazon, et al. The Oud Center guys will prbly at least provide you with a decent learner's instrument; as I said, you'll need to make sure that it has well functioning pegs and appropriate action - these mass imports vary widely in terms of these factors and, needless to say, much of what is offered is not good.

Sukar used to be the basic standard, but the last decade has seen decreasing availability due to geopolitical factors.

I suggest getting on Mike's Oud Forum and communicating with the private sellers there for a used instrument. This way you'll know what you're getting.

[Paul Roberts]

This thread has inspired me to take my oud off the shelf where it's been hiding for years. Now it's hanging out in my living room, awaiting a reawakening, when its ancient sounds come back to life with a new set of strings.

Temel Sehit is the name of the luthier. All I can find out about him, is that he was (is?) a Turkish oud maker, who made both Turkish and Arabic ouds. Mine's Turkish, but seems happy to have migrated to Colorado.

Anyway, thanks for the thread. You never know when or how a wind is going to blow you somewhere.

[catt]

Oud is a wonderfully expressive instrument. I started playing it after playing fretless (nylon strung) banjo for a while. Flamenco guitar was my first instrument, so oud was more gratifying for me than all the banjo stuff. But, I've played very little oud in recent years (I hadn't played for years when I made that vid) since getting back into cello. I'm also a fiddler, so I don't play much guitar or other plucked strings these days.

*I've NFI here is a good intro: https://youtu.be/v5zol69e02o Here's also on buying ouds: https://youtu.be/zz90qrVXmnw

Another is Mirek who teaches Turkish maqam.

[SingingSparrow]

Lindley sounds interesting. I prefer the traditional use of this instrument, but he certainly does make his instrument sound very bluesy. Thanks for the heads up, I did not know about him.

Thanks for the suggestions re Sukar and Mike's forum. I am following up with those and hope to have a decent instrument in my hands at some point soon.

Paul - When did you visit India to learn from Rais Khan? He was a well known and respected player, and I think related to Vilayat Khan, who was widely respected as well, perhaps even more so, but from a different gharana. Rais immigrated to Pakistan a long while ago; if you visited India to learn from him, it must have been before then. Sounds like it would have a wonderful learning experience. Did you visit him in Etawah? How long were you there for? I wonder how you coped with being in India in general.

I did not expect this kind of musical diversity here. Very pleasant to encounter! Thanks to all for your contributions to this thread.

PS, catt -- thanks for the links to those videos! Are there any books you recommend as well?

[catt]

You're welcome. I don't know of any written materials, personally. I saw one a long time ago, but it didn't really contain any information that went beyond what is covered in the first few minutes of any of these videos.

It's an aural tradition of transmission. It's still likely the best way.

[catt]

Oops, sorry here's murat keyder (not mirek)

https://youtu.be/cytX0NzWB9c

[Paul Roberts]

Originally Posted by SingingSparrow

Paul - When did you visit India to learn from Rais Khan? He was a well known and respected player, and I think related to Vilayat Khan, who was widely respected as well, perhaps even more so, but from a different gharana. Rais immigrated to Pakistan a long while ago; if you visited India to learn from him, it must have been before then. Sounds like it would have a wonderful learning experience. Did you visit him in Etawah? How long were you there for? I wonder how you coped with being in India in general.

Thanks for your interest. I studied with Rais Khan for 6 months in 1970, preceded by 3 years studying with Dr. Shyam Yodh in Boston. Since this thread is about the oud, instead of getting too sidetracked here I'll start another thread to go into more detail.