Favorite Taqasim?

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

David, I am spending a little time on contemporary players, who did you have in mind? I am trying to focus on traditional approaches only.

I had considered Samir Tahar. I kind of ruled out both Munir Bashir and Said Chraibi for now because I think at present it is more practical to focus on people who are more in line with traditional Levantine/Egyptian style.
Tahar is a little different but seems basically in that tradition, from what I've heard.

Bashir has many Turkish and Iraqi elements that are different. It would be interesting to do a comparison of Bashir to clarify the different elements, but that is way outside the scope of what I am trying to do with this project. Both he and Chraibi are wonderful players but too idiosyncratic for my purposes. There are a lot of "classical sentences" as Suzidil put it, but there is a lot of other stuff too, and a peculiar accent

Fawzi Sayeb was self-taught and I am skeptical about the relationship of his taqasim to the tradition. I don't mean this as a criticism, but I am looking more for musicians that are undisputed masters . . . otherwise it is too hard to separate the 'noise' if that makes sense.

Essentially I don't want a wide variety of styles since it detracts from the purpose of comparison of common language. I wasn't clear on that in the initial post.

Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka

I had considered Samir Tahar. I kind of ruled out both Munir Bashir and Said Chraibi for now because I think at present it is more practical to focus on people who are more in line with traditional Levantine/Egyptian style. Tahar is a little different but seems basically in that tradition, from what I've heard. Bashir has many Turkish and Iraqi elements that are different. It would be interesting to do a comparison of Bashir to clarify the different elements, but that is way outside the scope of what I am trying to do with this project. Both he and Chraibi are wonderful players but too idiosyncratic for my purposes. There are a lot of "classical sentences" as Suzidil put it, but there is a lot of other stuff too, and a peculiar accent Fawzi Sayeb was self-taught and I am skeptical about the relationship of his taqasim to the tradition. I don't mean this as a criticism, but I am looking more for musicians that are undisputed masters . . . otherwise it is too hard to separate the 'noise' if that makes sense. Essentially I don't want a wide variety of styles since it detracts from the purpose of comparison of common language. I wasn't clear on that in the initial post.

Quote: Originally posted by David Parfitt

How about Amer Ammouri

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander

Quote: Originally posted by David Parfitt   How about Amer Ammouri Nice call. I always thought that this one had some of the most sensational playing I've heard. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT60sOyRhn0

Hi Brian,
i am looking forward to what you come up with in terms of conclusion. Should be interesting !
+ 1 Georges Michel

Of course Farid and Sumbati are the kings but I think Farid was more like a Jimmy Hendrix and Sumbati an Eric Clapton if we can make comparisons. Maybe not as gifted dexterity wise but made up with his own style of melodic development. Where as Farid I think is the more classical mold but was so gifted that he could basically just play everything twice as fast as you could beleive it. The structure of his taqasims also have a nice build up story like a powerful balad and when it hits you its a fireworks show with the build up to the grand finale a massive explosion.

here is my input,
Without adding to what was already said about them I agree with the following names too: Ameer Ammouri, Simon Shaheen, Qadri Dalal, Kamil Shajrawi.

Ameer Ammouri especially (2.23 of this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrq731pqV9Y) I think this captures the essence of what arabic oud improvisation is all about. Maybe a little more showmanship than necessary but to pull this up live... you gotta be very relaxed up there playing with Sabah Fakhri!!

Lysander, that is a copy of a famous Farid el Atrash taqasim by the way.