Melbourne - 6-16-2007 at 08:45 PM
Hello there ud lovers....
Ok this is one of the best ud compilations I've come across in a long time if not ever! It is a four CD set presented very nicely with a book and a
fancy slide-in box. All is a live recording from the Muscat Ud Festival recorded in 2005. It has an amazing scope of ud music, ranging from
traditional taqasim, mawwals, to more experimental orchestral dialogues for ud and orchestra and an oud concerto! The major highlight for me is the
Abady al Johar recordings; six tracks are featured on the second disc, showcasing all the mind blowing Abady pieces that have been circulating around
youtube as poor qualtiy video clips. Well on this cd set, they are the real deal! and its just amazing listening to this guy in high definition
audio, he is such a sensitive artist, and every single one of his phrases and notes sends shivers through my spine! I had not realised Abady was such
an amazing artist.
There is text in Arabic, English, French and German; and heaps of eyecandy of uds in all sorts of poses 
And judging by these photos, there are many Shehata ouds featured on these recordings, for all you Shehata oud fans;
of whom I'm definitely one! The release is from Enja records, the same record company that features Rabih Abou Khalil - a German label I think.
On a concluding note - I hope I didn't make a fool of myslef if this set of discs has already been discussed on here before 
but I did have a good look...
I'd love to hear some opinions from those who are familiar with this compilation.
stringmanca - 8-30-2007 at 10:12 AM
This can be ordered from rashid.com at
http://www.rashid.com/search_result.asp?Product_ID=ENJA9504
$79.98 US
I also found it on Amazon's Canadian site, but not the US site.
dubai244 - 8-30-2007 at 10:30 AM
Hi melboure,
This is very nice very CDs which i bought from Virgin music shop. There is a singer called Safwan Bahlawan from syria and his voice almost like
Mohammad Abdul Wahhab, and he is singing one of most rear song of moh.adulwahhab called "Min Azibbak ...". This songs was performed by Moh.A.Wahhab in
1940's. try to listen to it.
By the way, i lived in adelaide, SA for 1 1/2 between 2003 to 2005. It is really nice place to live and i really missed it ... !
Thanks
michoud - 8-30-2007 at 11:27 AM
Hi all! you can found it in this german website for 46,40 euros!!!!
http://www.enjarecords.com/cd.php?nr=ENJ-9504
stringmanca - 9-11-2007 at 01:04 PM
I received my copy from rashid.com yesterday and it's every bit as beautifully packaged as michoud described. I've only had time to listen to the
first disc so far, but it sounds great! It's expensive, but very worthwhile to own, I think.
The booklet contains bios and photos of all of the artists, as well as some articles on the festival, the oud and Arabic music in general, including
information on all of the maqams used on the recordings.
Does anyone have any information on the festival itself? Apparently it is held in November/December, but there was nothing about it on the Oman
tourist information site. Are westerners allowed/welcomed to attend?
Nathan