Hello - my name is Leon and I have just joined the forum having just bought my first oud from Haluk Eraydin.
I've played guitar for 24 years or so and recently got the John Bilezikjian cd 'music from the Armenian diasporo' of which I suppose I qualify being
half Armenian myself on my mother's side. This has got me hooked on the oud so now I am listening to lots of the amazing music from this website. I
feel liberated from the fretted cage but it will take some getting used to.
I recieved my oud a couple of weeks ago - Haluk is a real gem of a bloke to deal with and the oud is wonderful - very light ... amazingly light and a
really bright but full tone ... LOUD aswell. The oud is the least expensive of his professional range (Oud 3 on his website) but there is nothing
cheap about it. It is beautifully made with a walnut & mahogany bowl, very well crafted tuning pegs of Balsam (I saw a lot of ouds on ebay with
really crude workmanship) and I think the fingerboard is rosewood. I wanted to learn on a good instrument , it's best to start as you mean to go on I
reckon.
The oud got here in 10 days - really well packed (with bubble wrap and support struts), pristine and in a soft case.
I paid through Western Union who are warning against paying for goods through them without knowing your seller well - there has just been a case on
our (UK) national news of a huge scam where people were ordering goods from ebay through Western Union and the seller just pocketed the money -
millions of pounds. They have just been caught.
I'm only saying this to reassure anyone who has not dealt with Haluk to say he is totally trustworthy and I want to vouch for his friendliness and
integrity (and ouds).
If you are reading this Haluk hello there , I had no idea you had been ill - hope you are feeling better.
I shall now delve into the murky depths of this amazing website - I can feel an obsession beginning to start...wish me luck folks
Best wishes Leon
Welcome
LeeVaris - 11-14-2005 at 09:04 PM
Congratulations!
Welcome to the club... just beware of OAS (oud acquisition syndrome)! You are embarking on a very rewarding journey with the most expressive
instrument ever invented (of course there's also the buzouk, kemenche, Kanoon, ne, tambour, santour...). Anyway... have fun and welcome aboard!Haluk - 11-14-2005 at 10:18 PM
Hello Leon,
Thank you for your nice wishes.
Enjoy your oud.
All my best.Ararat66 - 11-15-2005 at 01:01 AM
Hello Haluk and the others
What a small world - so I'm a member of a club and may develop OAS, still in the grey wetness of an English winter I'll risk it for a biscuit.
This may be the first club I've been in - no one else would have me, wasn't it Groucho Marx that said he would never join a club that would have him
as a member?
I'll probably be picking all your thoughts on technique as I get to grips with this, even though I can play the guitar it is very different -
especially the picking.. My guitar playing is a lot of (undisiplined) finger and flat picking, but the expressive bouncyness of oud technique seems
seriously addictive.
One last thought - should I tell my wife about OAS and what are the symptoms ... I suspect you'll all tell me it's incurable
Cheers
LeonGreg - 11-15-2005 at 05:00 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Ararat66
[snip] One last thought - should I tell my wife about OAS?
For God's sake don't tell your wife. She may
start talking to all our wives and that'll be the end of it. spyros mesogeia - 11-15-2005 at 07:02 AM
