LeeVaris - 7-27-2005 at 10:25 PM
Hi all,
I've returned from a wonderful vacation in Greece. I thought I'd share some photos I took during my visit with Spyros and Dimitris. You can find
photos and a sound clip here:
http://www.varis.com/Greece-05/Ouds/
Hopefully Spyros can tell us a little more about his wonderful ouds!
Jonathan - 7-28-2005 at 01:49 AM
The oud sounds beautiful. Which one is he playing? They look incredible--especially the inlay on the fingerboard, and the incredible rosettes.
spyros mesogeia - 7-28-2005 at 02:08 AM
Dear friend Lee,
it was a pleasand surprise for me to see the pictures here,the oud that I play and sing this song is the Turkish with the inlays,
Lee,you have to hear and play the new one,is a wonderfull instrument too,I hope that we will see you again next year here in mainland.
Well what can I say about my ouds Lee,
The Syrian type is on the pictures nr 6-7,it is made of wenge and paduk,and the soundboard is made by aged german spruce as all of my instruments,the
fingerboard is made of pallisander and the pegs too,the rosettes are made of horn,as for the Turkish with the inlays is made of red brazillian
pallisander and amazakoue,the pegs and the fingerboard is ebony the rosettes are made of horn,as for the marquetries I can't say ,but they are not
imitations of anything,Mike please don't ban me man
the Bashir is also pallissanders on the bowl,and the fingerboard and pegs are also ebony,as for the pickquard and the inlays same as my Turkish
one,
as for the last one that Dimitris has on his hands,it wasn't the rosette done this day,so I had to wait a little bit,and it was the first time that I
saw it with Lee there,but believe me Lee,I am sure that you will like it too.
Well,that's all folks about the instruments
oudmaker - 7-28-2005 at 02:47 AM
Very good works young man. Congratulations. Keep it going !!
Dincer
Great Ouds
LeeVaris - 7-28-2005 at 05:36 AM
Spyros,
Your ouds by Dimitris are easily some of the best I have ever seen. I really enjoyed my all too short visit. I'm already saving up for a return visit
- next time I'll be there to pick up an instrument (or two). Drimitris is a wonderful person and your playing... well, its impressive. I look forward
to my next visit.
spyros mesogeia - 7-29-2005 at 01:21 AM
Dear friend Lee
Dimitris sends you his greetings,he really is waiting as me also to see you again in Athens,it will be our pleasure to play some more and to have more
time to spend about the oud.You know,as I told you in Athens too,the oud is our life,is the magic instrument that has made us,all of us here in forum
and not only,a big family,the oud family.
Dincer Usta,thank you for your kind words,I really appreciate it,I hope one day to see you and to give me some lessons on the makams and not
only,Mavros told me about you only kind words.He really respects you,and if he says so,I believe him and I agree with him,he is my Kardas.
Jonathan thank you for your kind words,you know here in Athens we have a great player and he is Armenian,is a person that I really respect and I
always keep his advices,I like his style very much,and I have the luck to know him as a friend,not only as a teacher or player,his name is Haig
Yazdjian.Believe me ,the words are not enough to show the beauty of his soul.He has a unique feeling when he plays.He plays Armenian music,but also
and arab.He always keeps a low profile and he is open to anyone ho really wants to learn the oud.Try to contact him,maybe it will be a great
oportunity to invite him in the US for some concerts,he has some cds also,Garin,Talar,and others....he has a track that I really love ,the
''Gazal''.
Best Regards
Spyros Koliavasilis
Jonathan - 7-29-2005 at 04:30 AM
Thanks for the information, Spyros. I, too, like Gazal. I grew up on Armenian and Turkish music, but had never heard of Yazdjian until last year.
Beautiful music. The great thing about the past year or two is that I have started to explore Arabic oud music, which has been an amazing experience,
as well as the Greek Rebetica music. Again, Spyros, your ouds look amazing.
billkilpatrick - 7-29-2005 at 06:25 AM
what a pity we aren't neighbors ... that would be me over there in the corner hugging your ouds.
beautiful - particularly the single hole oud featured in photos 19 and 21. such clean lines ... very modern and jazzy.
... of course if we were neighbors all of your ouds would be in my heavily mortgaged house.
lee - thanks for posting the photos and mp3.
complimenti - bill
Jonathan - 7-29-2005 at 06:31 AM
In 19, where Dimitris is playing left handed, it looks like the strings have not been reversed.
Mike - 7-29-2005 at 04:15 PM
Sweet pictures Lee. Looks like you had a blast over there. Nice to see some new and exciting pictures of our good friend Spyros too!
Take care,
Mike
Jameel - 7-29-2005 at 06:30 PM
Great pics, Lee. Thanks for sharing.
maran - 7-30-2005 at 12:47 AM
spyros, you can tell haig we are big fans of his here in the u.s (at least i am). unfortunately there is not enough appreciation of this music by the
armenian community here in the states, for the same reason traditional music is not appreciated by the population at large. we have a situation where
musical taste is driven by the profit considerations of the record companies. sadly many of the armenian youth think they are lisening to armenian
music when they listen to system of a down! from this standpoint (and many others!) you are lucky to be in greece.
returning to the topic of haig, perhaps you can also tell him it is almost impossible to purchase his albums here (such as those you mentioned on the
libra music label. btw it looks like they have some excellent titles. i have been wanting to hear christos tsiamoulis and michalis nikoulidis
for a long time). the only one i was able to find was yeraz, which you know (i also like the track hanin on that album as well).
best wishes to everyone and beautiful pics lee.
spyros mesogeia - 8-3-2005 at 01:44 AM
Dear friend Maran,here in Greece the Armenian people love Haig,and they are very united ,but they also make many events with Armenian music
ofcourse,it's sad to hear that there the people is not like that,because I know that there are much more people of Armenians than here in
Greece,anyhow,the new generation has to continue the culture of your mainland,especially the music.I will inform him about the albums my friend.
Hello billkilpatrick,as far as I know you live in Italy,so it's easy to come for a couple of days in Athens my friend for a visit and play some oud
music too.
He is a left hand Dimitris but,he plays with a right hand instrument,and makes his fiends crazy..... he he
Thanks Mike,and guess with who am I with right now.....Mavros says hi.All day we play oud man....Oud paradise
Regards to all
Spyros
billkilpatrick - 8-3-2005 at 02:19 AM
thanks for the invitation - that's me knocking on your door ...
a presto - bill