Elliot - 9-6-2011 at 01:15 AM
I went on a university trip to Jordan. While I was there I talked to an old and young man who were taking turns playing oud and singing outside a
restaurant. I asked whose songs they were playing and the man mentioned some name, and said it was a popular/famous oud player from Saudi Arabia. I
had already bought a cheap oud and wanted to start in the style they were playing (not virtuoso as much as rhythmic counterpoint). Their style was
simple enough that I nearly got the jist of it when they let me have a turn.
Since I've been back to the States I've tried to search on the internet for some great oud singers, but searches tend to turn up only great virtuosos.
I'm not interested in the complex virtuoso stuff as much as I am finding a great singer with the oud (in western comparison, someone like a famous
blues singer as opposed to famous classical guitarist). So far the closest I've come to what I heard in Jordan was Hamza El Din...Not that Nubian
music resembles Saudi, but in that it was more rhythmic and suited for a singer.
So would someone guide me towards some of the great oud singers or good records?
Branko - 9-6-2011 at 04:49 AM
Abadi El Johar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ko3nc6sDFM
Elliot - 9-6-2011 at 08:42 AM
Yeah, but he's not singing. What I'm looking for is a man singing with his oud. Simple melody, rhythmic counterpoint, and he's singing. So far I've
only discovered Hamza El Din.
Maybe there's a better place to search for oud records other than Amazon.com?
alim - 9-6-2011 at 03:48 PM
Perhaps they were referring to Mohamed Abdo? Try the Yemani oud singers, Ahmed Fathi has some recordings where he also sings and the style is the way
you describe it.
Good luck,
Ali-
Brian Prunka - 9-6-2011 at 03:56 PM
There's lots of stuff with Abadi al Johar singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9VA0E8VSK4&feature=related
tchandler - 9-7-2011 at 12:14 PM
You can find recordings of Sunbati singing and playing. His recording of the Rubaiyyat is incredible. I believe I have a cassette somewhere of Abdel
Wahab singing and playing as well, but it wasn't that thrilling to me at the time. Habib Guerroumi is great, although he's doing an Andalusian thing
as opposed to Egyptian or Saudi.
ameer - 9-8-2011 at 06:45 AM
^+1. Sunbati's recordings are quite nice. Abdel Wahab's never impressed me that much in general but I guess that comes down to me not being a great
fan of his to begin with. Farid El Atrash, Sayid Makawy, and Wadi El Safi all have oud/singing recordings; I've found a few in decent quality that I'd
be happy to share.
David Parfitt - 9-8-2011 at 07:24 AM
You might also enjoy Mustafa Al Sunni:
http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Sudan-Mustafa-Al-Sunni/dp/B00000IXIL
All the best
David
Kelly - 9-8-2011 at 11:55 AM
You might want to try listening to some Sudanese singers particularly
Abdel Gadir Salim http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1037696
Abdel Aziz el Mubarak http://www.amazon.co.uk/SOUND-SUDAN-Various-Artists/dp/B0000247G9
Best wishes
John Erlich - 9-8-2011 at 03:19 PM
Abdul Majid Abdallah, a Saudi singer, has some really beautiful oud/voice only recordings. I own one such cassette, which appears to have never come
out in CD and is out-of-print. I posted about it before: http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=11641#pid79... Since it’s unavailable anywhere or in any form, you can U2U if you want me to copy it for you.
I also love Yemeni music, which also tends to be relatively simple and oud/voice oriented. Very little of it has been issued on CD (I have a
substantial cassette collection, but occasionally find pirated-looking CDs in Yemeni –owned Arab markets in NY & CA). There are quite a few
clips available on YouTube. My favorite is Fuad Al-Kibsy.
Good luck,
John
littleseb - 9-9-2011 at 03:47 AM
yes john, yemeni music's the best! i love faisal, ayoub, ahmed maheub, etc etc.
very difficult to find good stuff outside yemen, but i too have a very large collection of casettes i brought back from yemen.
what have you got? what are your faves?
we could start an exchange program....
i've lost a few of my favourites along the way (lending them out, never to be seen again).
funny thing is - i don't read or speak arabic, so i don't know what most of my favourite yemenis are called. but i've listened to my casettes so much
that i know them all inside out, lol!
littleseb - 9-10-2011 at 07:52 AM
here's a geezer who's picking style and vocal performance i find very moving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTvb_MsSzZQ&feature=related
just how good is yemeni music?