David Parfitt - 6-16-2013 at 11:43 PM
Earlier in the year I made the decision to buy a new oud, and after reading the positive comments on the forum I opted to go with oud maker Michael
Moussa, who also lives in the UK. I telephoned him in February, and after discussing the various options I decided to purchase an Abdo Nahat replica
that he was part-way through building. The oud was in Egypt and would take several months to complete, but that suited me fine. I asked if he required
a deposit, but was told this was not necessary, and that I would have first refusal on the oud (the meaning of this was clarified to make sure there
was no misunderstanding on either part). Mr Moussa said that he would be in touch in April/May to report on progress.
Sure enough, in April I received an email to say that the oud was nearly ready and sounded great, but just needed polishing. I replied that I looked
forward to hearing from him once it was completed. Then things went quiet for a while until June, when I received a cryptic email inviting me to an
oud gathering in Barnsley and with the casual remark that the Nahat-replica oud had been "abducted". On asking for clarification, it turned out that
while "my" oud was awaiting its polish, an old friend of Mr Moussa’s had been passing through and had taken a liking to the instrument. Mr Moussa
had then sold or given him the oud, seemingly without any consideration for the agreement that he had made with me.
As you can imagine I am extremely angry and disappointed at this outcome. I’m not sure if this is standard business practice in Egypt, but it is
certainly not acceptable to me. Although we had no formal written agreement, I assumed the man was as good as his word, and that "first refusal" meant
he would at least contact me before letting the oud go to someone else. I’ll let others make up their own mind about whether they would like to
purchase an oud from Mr Moussa, but I will certainly not be doing so.
Best wishes
David
nile pirate - 6-17-2013 at 02:35 AM
dear mike, other adminstrators and members of the forum
to my sorrow and disappointment this form has been recently turned to a good medium for biased, unfair and even racial comments with all sort of
motives behind them
particularly targeting egypt, egyptian luthier and oud player-
even with michael moving to uk he hase not escaped the stigma the of being egyptian as Mr Parfit has hinted in his message.
It is a pity that Mr Prfit is using his position in the forum to ruin the image of such a noble man like michael AS IF HE IS WARNING THE OTHER FROM A
CHEATER!!
he has not paid a deposit, and not committed himself to purchase reserving to himself the right of refusal- I think Mr Prfit MICHAEL HAS BEEN DOWN TO
THE EARTH WITH YOU- but still not good enough
Michael makes ouds in his own preference, never custom made and whoever likes the existing oud will take- no obligation on either side
and it was clearly mentioned in Mr Parfit message that the oud was started not on his request and was not made for him-
EVERY BODY WHO HAS GOT AN OUD FROM MICHAEL HAS BEEN THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS.
and Iwould welcome any comment or feedback from any person who has been even in casual contact with michael to testify differently
the grieved pirate
Greg - 6-17-2013 at 05:05 AM
Dear Nile Pirate,
Your dedication to Mr Moussa and the instruments he makes is beyond question. The 13 posts you have sent to these forums since joining in September
2011 have been exclusively on the subject of Mr Moussa and/or his instruments. I can therefore understand your reason for feeling aggrieved by Mr
Parfitt's post.
The only two people who know what transpired between Mr Parfitt and Mr Moussa are those two people. I am not convinced a long debate, with
contributions by people who were not privy to the details of the original agreement, would serve any useful purpose.
Both Mr Moussa and Mr Parfitt are held in high regard by members of these forums. A long and uninformed debate on these forums can do nothing other
than to cause further hurt.
I take issue with your interpretation of Mr Parfitt's comments being in any way racist. I doubt that any member of these forums would agree with your
assertion that there is some kind of stigma attaching to being Egyptian. And if I am wrong and such a stigma does exist in the UK, I saw no evidence
of it in Mr Parfitt's statement. I also saw no claim that he had been cheated or that Mr Moussa was/is a cheat.
Misunderstandings often occur between good people. I suspect that is what happened in this case. But let us not exacerbate the problem by
misinterpreting and misreporting what has actually been said.
Mr Moussa, of course, has a right of reply to what has been posted here. He is well respected on these forums and I feel sure many would welcome his
comments.
Greg (moderator)
nile pirate - 6-18-2013 at 12:31 PM
thanks Greg
I think you are right- and I am sure they will settle the matter between themselves which should have been the case from the very beginning without
unnecessarily involving others between 2 people of their calibre
Greg - 6-18-2013 at 04:07 PM
Thanks Nile Pirate.
Regards,
Greg
Jason - 6-18-2013 at 05:30 PM
I don't think his comments were racist at all. It is a fact that Middle Eastern practices of doing business are often VERY different from what us
westerners are used to.
Things can get confusing on the forum because we have people from all over the world.