I wanted to share a new video of Said Chraibi playing some Taqasim on a new oud. Flamed maple, floating bridge oud.
Taqasims that feed the souls. different maqams with an elegant playing manner.
the oud sound very new, using Pyramid Lute Strings. High tension.
enjoy it.
who's workshop is this in? Khalid? Did Khalid make this oud?
You can count on it. It's already noted below the video.
BTW ... Khalid and Samir are friends
@ Samir: And as always ... great playing, Said! Please tell it to your friend.Edward Powell - 6-14-2010 at 10:57 AM
I love Khalid... I have a funny story about witnessing the birth of a great oud from him. I had ordered a custom 13 string oud from him then went
off the the RIFF mountains expecting that the oud would be ready on the agreed date since he knew I had to fly home. I got back to CASA 3 days before
my flight to reconfirm the flight - only to find only the back of my new oud completed and the rest of the wood cut and sitting there. He told me he
got married and it cut into his working time - but all the wood was ready and he could complete it quickly.......... I said "but can you complete it
in 72 hours????" ...he thought for a moment, and said, "yes, I think so". So I said "go for it". . . . and I practically looked over his shoulder
and kept him working constantly for the next 3 days. . . but it was really not coming together as fast as it should.. .. ..
but I kept on his case, and finally we ended up on the last night in his workshop with a few of his friends. He was working like crazy, I had my sitar
there, ans we had some wine with his friends, playing music, chatting for hours, all the while Khalid was working like mad.
One by one, his friends left, and it got later and later in the evening and finally night, then late night, and finally there was just me and him
sitting there witnessing the birth of a new oud.
At about 330am he told me to go home and get a few hours sleep since I had to fly the next morning at 11am..... he stayed awake the rest of the
night and into the morning finishing it completely. (of course this oud didn't get much of a varnish, but it was an excellent oud - - - finally this
oud got quite damaged from extreme weather changes having it with me during a monsoon in the Himalayas... and it now rests at a friend's house in
Calcutta since 1997 - - - )Aymara - 6-14-2010 at 11:26 AM
... finally this oud got quite damaged from extreme weather changes having it with me during a monsoon in the Himalayas...
Oh my god ... that sounds like a similar disaster as Tony reported about his trip to Central America HERE.Edward Powell - 6-14-2010 at 11:34 AM
well...... the troubles started early with this oud (even before it's birth, as my story relates). . . . but when I got back to Canada I was
soon off into the interior in the dry hot summer (to play some money "bar" gigs, as I used to do back then, actually 1995 was my very last year doing
that).... and I had the oud in the front seat in a black bag, and I heard "CRAAAAAACK". . . . sure enough the soundboard got it's first of many
major cracks.
the next spring I was in the Himalaya, and stayed too long in Dharamsala, and the beautiful spring past and then the rains started. . . . all my
instruments except my sitar were rendered unplayable. . . the bodys would swell up and the action would get so low the strings would sit right
against the fingerboard.
these major changes weakened that oud and eventually the peg box also came off - - - but I just kept on gluing everything back together. . . . and
it survived. . . . but I had to leave it in Calcutta because that year I took with me back to Canada 10 sitars (without ANY extra baggage! -- but
that is another story!)sabbassi - 6-14-2010 at 02:35 PM
Hi Edward, Chris.
Nice story with the wine and the rest. Been there, done that...
Khalid is a Hardworker with amazing eye for details and music instruments sounds.
I will see him again in couple of weeks and he will teach me how to build a Qanun. I'm a amazed by qanun sound and music.
As for the oud everything need time and practice. and having khalid as teacher it won't go wrong.
thanks for sharing you experience
