Mike's Oud Forums

Aarif Jaman

Moe5021 - 5-6-2015 at 07:34 AM

I'm new to the oud world but while I was listening to some songs on Spotify I decided to type 'oud' and see what comes up. To my surprise an album named Oud shows up by a musician named Aarif Jaman.

I've never heard of him before but his playing is beautiful and the songs are named by the corresponding Maqam they're based around!

I highly recommend listening to it you can really "hear" the maqam and understand how to play it.

Anyway, I've never heard of the guy and decided to share that with everyone here.

Cheers!

PS: After listening to him you may have the urge to throw your oud away, smash it into a million little pieces and just decide to give up on the whole thing.. Or maybe that's just me:mad:

John Erlich - 5-6-2015 at 08:10 PM

David Parfitt's site has one photo, shows images of his 3 CDs with track listings, and notes that he's from Yemen, but has no other info: http://www.oud.eclipse.co.uk/jaman.html I have one or two of his CDs, but know nothing more about him. Searching his name in Arabic--عارف جمن--on YouTube yields a number of grainy videos, such as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As4uS2TpOoA (living room session with Turkish kanun player). He also plays violin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfzSdzgrysI The Arabic Wikipedia entry on him appears to be nothing more than a stub: http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%81_%D9%85%D8%AC%...

Moe: Let the masters inspire you, not intimidate and depress you. Keep learning and practicing, and you will enjoy listening to yourself one day!

Moe5021 - 5-7-2015 at 01:23 AM

He definitely inspired me, it was more of a joke:)

Anyway, thanks for all the info he sure is one of the greats!

Btw I saw some of your clips on youtube and I enjoyed them, how long have you been playing?

John Erlich - 5-7-2015 at 06:49 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Moe5021  
He definitely inspired me, it was more of a joke:)

Anyway, thanks for all the info he sure is one of the greats!

Btw I saw some of your clips on youtube and I enjoyed them, how long have you been playing?

I bought my first oud on Mohammed Ali St. in Cairo in 1995. I didn't start to become serious until 1997, when I decided/realized that the Mohammed Ali St. oud was a piece of junk, and bought a Najarian. I banged around on that for a couple years (mis)applying my guitar skills. I finally got some proper instruction in 1999 at a week-long music camp here in Northern California. (I attended that camp 4 times, where there were 3 oud teachers, a Turk, and Armenian, and a Palestinian.) Beyond that, I'm mostly self-taught. I now teach beginners, partly because the money comes in handy, and partly because I know how important it is to develop good technique. Too many oud beginners in the West try to play the oud like a guitar, and, like me, risk injuring themselves. Do I understand correctly that you are in Saudi? I really enjoy listening to Abadi El Johar, but his CDs are completely unavailable in the West. Is it easy to buy them there?

Moe5021 - 5-8-2015 at 08:44 AM

Wow, good for you!

I just started playing around 20 days ago. Been playing guitar for 8 years (mostly electric, it's a shame my great speed and accuracy can't be transferred to the oud) and trying my best not to apply any of the picking hand positions of guitar to the oud but everything is going great, as far as the left hand is concerned..the right hand, not so much.

Regarding Abadi El Johar, most musicians here make their money from concerts, not so much from album sales. So, unfortunately, most people just download his stuff. But they are available. If you want an Arabic music site to download his albums let me know.

Cheers!

Lysander - 5-8-2015 at 09:16 AM

So what kind of bands inspired you on the guitar, Moe? Coming from a metal background myself I'm sure there are tastes we share.

Moe5021 - 5-8-2015 at 10:27 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander  
So what kind of bands inspired you on the guitar, Moe? Coming from a metal background myself I'm sure there are tastes we share.


I started at the beginning listening to Metallica (I know I know..), then switched to melodic death metal (August Burns Red, Parkway Drive, Lamb of God, In Flames, etc.) and solo artists like John Petrucci, Michael Angelo Batio and so on. But I don't listen to metal, anymore. Not that I don't enjoy it but I guess I grew older and my taste changed or something haha

The strange thing is I don't remember what band/song got me started on the guitar. Probably something by Santana. But I sure do remember what got me into wanting to learn to play the oud. It's a song called Nasetini by Aydh: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ybqDq4gOk) The Oud accompanying the singer is just beautiful!

How about you?

francis - 5-8-2015 at 01:43 PM

Nasetini is a really nice song, and the oud accompagniement is fine.
Could we get a music score?....Or a link to get one?

Francis

Moe5021 - 5-8-2015 at 02:17 PM

Quote: Originally posted by francis  
Nasetini is a really nice song, and the oud accompagniement is fine.
Could we get a music score?....Or a link to get one?

Francis


I wish I had one. I've been trying to figure it out by ear but no luck what so ever.

If anyone likes it and has a good ear they could probably make a music score for us or at least the Maqam it's based on.

Lysander - 5-9-2015 at 03:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Moe5021  
Quote: Originally posted by Lysander  
So what kind of bands inspired you on the guitar, Moe? Coming from a metal background myself I'm sure there are tastes we share.


I started at the beginning listening to Metallica (I know I know..), then switched to melodic death metal (August Burns Red, Parkway Drive, Lamb of God, In Flames, etc.) and solo artists like John Petrucci, Michael Angelo Batio and so on. But I don't listen to metal, anymore. Not that I don't enjoy it but I guess I grew older and my taste changed or something haha

The strange thing is I don't remember what band/song got me started on the guitar. Probably something by Santana. But I sure do remember what got me into wanting to learn to play the oud. It's a song called Nasetini by Aydh: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ybqDq4gOk) The Oud accompanying the singer is just beautiful!

How about you?


Nothing wrong with listening to Metallica. The Black Album was one of the first metal albums I remember listening to on tape. Even though I got into metal through Type O Negative and Paradise Lost, it was watching Nirvana Unplugged which made me pick up a guitar in the 90s, and it was that which crafted my affinity for acoustic instruments.

As for what made me pick up the oud... no song in particular. I was given one and it just sort of took off from there. However, I did play Driss El Maloumi's Makan album to death at the beginning of my learning, and I feel it is his emotional, textured and rhythmic modern style which will form the basis for my compositions going forward [this track http://sahn.bandcamp.com/track/yazidi for instance is quite influenced by him]. My listening these days is still split between metal and Middle Eastern music, with bands like Orphaned Land forming a perfect bridge between the two. On a related note, I will be writing a paper this summer on Orphaned Land for publication. More about that after it is complete.

Moe5021 - 5-9-2015 at 04:45 AM

Wow, I've never heard of Orphaned Land. The music is very strange and beautiful! Very interesting style. I can imagine it being the background music of an action scene in a mummy movie.

John Erlich - 5-9-2015 at 10:22 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Moe5021  
Regarding Abadi El Johar, most musicians here make their money from concerts, not so much from album sales. So, unfortunately, most people just download his stuff. But they are available. If you want an Arabic music site to download his albums let me know.

Thanks, Moe, but I have already downloaded 5 or 6 Abadi El Johar albums. I just thought it would be nice to actually buy one and support him "honestly."