Mike's Oud Forums

Amazing oud taqasim

Oud.Proff - 7-12-2007 at 01:07 AM

Hello everyone;

Here is some amazing oud taqasim by an Algerian oudist, who is not as famous as he should I think !!. I'm trying to know more about him through an acquaintance.....so I'm on the case ;). I think his name is Ola Muhammad though.

Although I'm not much into "treble" sounding ouds, but I like his passion and feeling in that piece.... really amazing !

What do you think of it?!

oudman - 7-12-2007 at 01:55 AM

This is the Algerian oud player Abdel Aziz Abdellah (Alla). He has a very unique style.

Oud.Proff - 7-12-2007 at 02:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by oudman
This is the Algerian oud player Abdel Aziz Abdellah (Alla). He has a very unique style.


Dear oudman;

Thanks for the info. He does have a unique style alright. An Algerian friend of his, however, informed me that his name was (3alla) Muhammad, and he is supposed to send me more recordings of his soon, I'll post those recordings once received.

I did some search about the name you mentioned "Abdel Aziz Abdellah" and seems that he's got an alias or a nickname "Alla" as well. I found a picture of him from a website http://www.planet-dz.com/_En-Cours/AVRIL/alla-bio.htm

p.s.: hmmmmm....also just found some threads about him in this very forum ! http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=3356&pa...

Sincerely;

Oud.Proff :wavey:

paulO - 7-12-2007 at 03:57 PM

One day sitting outside at a table at Cafe in Cassablanca, they were playing some oud taksim's on the box.....and they were fabulous...we asked the waiter who it was -- he get's back to us finally and says, Alla. May or may not be the same guy....that's one great takism you posted though. Thanks Prof.

PaulO

Oud.Proff - 7-15-2007 at 09:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by paulO
One day sitting outside at a table at Cafe in Cassablanca, they were playing some oud taksim's on the box.....and they were fabulous...we asked the waiter who it was -- he get's back to us finally and says, Alla. May or may not be the same guy....that's one great takism you posted though. Thanks Prof.

PaulO


I will have to agree with you paulo, and would rather say (to me) it is probably the best taksim I've hreared this year:rolleyes:. There is just something unique about it !

MatthewW - 7-19-2007 at 12:37 AM

Alla Muhammed does play with a refreshing and haunting sensitivity, no question about that! I also found the sound of his oud interesting, a slight treble sound, but suitable to the style he plays in. The first impression that came to mind was that it sounded like an older recording, and if the great Andres Segovia played oud then this is what he would have sounded like! thanks for posting it oud.proff!

Rambaldi47 - 7-24-2007 at 04:14 AM

I loved that taqsim. truly amazing! :buttrock:

Oud.Proff - 7-29-2007 at 03:09 PM

Well.....can't blame you guys (MatthewW and Rambaldi47) for loving Ola's taqasim !

jamloun - 8-5-2007 at 02:43 AM

An excellent takssim, I happen to have Alla's CD that includes this track. The album is entitled "Foundou de Bechar" (Fondou from Bechar) and is a masterpiece. The second track (Le Foundou, 26 min of takssim) is -in my very humble opinion- even better than the takssim posted here. (CD cover below)

I think we should support artists like this, excellent musicians who are often not very well known! -> This is just to deter anyone thinking about asking me to post all the tracks of the CD! :-) posting single tracks is an excellent way to help discover musicians, but if we like them we should support them by buying the CD or going to the shows. This is particulalrly the case for Oudists since the market is still quite small...enough rambling, back to Alla:

Alla (born on the 15th of June 1946) is from Bechar, a little town in south-east Algeria, in the Sahara, close to the maroccan borders. He has developed a very personal style (sometimes referred to as Foundou) that also includes slight sub-saharan influences and possibly inspirations from the so-called maroccan malhoun (lyrical love poetry).

Alla's Discography:

Foundou de Béchar, 1992, Disque Al Sur/ Concord
Taghit, 1994, Disque Al Sur/ Concord
Tanakoul, 1996, Disque Al Sur/ Concord
Zahra, 2002, Lyndaris/Night and Day


I only have the Foundou album, if anyone has the other CDs please share your impressions...

Foundou from Bechar (or "Le Foundou")

Oud.Proff - 8-5-2007 at 09:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by jamloun
An excellent takssim, I happen to have Alla's CD that includes this track. The album is entitled "Foundou de Bechar" (Fondou from Bechar) and is a masterpiece. The second track (Le Foundou, 26 min of takssim) is -in my very humble opinion- even better than the takssim posted here. (CD cover below)

I think we should support artists like this, excellent musicians who are often not very well known! -> This is just to deter anyone thinking about asking me to post all the tracks of the CD! :-) posting single tracks is an excellent way to help discover musicians, but if we like them we should support them by buying the CD or going to the shows. This is particulalrly the case for Oudists since the market is still quite small...enough rambling, back to Alla:

Alla (born on the 15th of June 1946) is from Bechar, a little town in south-east Algeria, in the Sahara, close to the maroccan borders. He has developed a very personal style (sometimes referred to as Foundou) that also includes slight sub-saharan influences and possibly inspirations from the so-called maroccan malhoun (lyrical love poetry).

Alla's Discography:

Foundou de Béchar, 1992, Disque Al Sur/ Concord
Taghit, 1994, Disque Al Sur/ Concord
Tanakoul, 1996, Disque Al Sur/ Concord
Zahra, 2002, Lyndaris/Night and Day


I only have the Foundou album, if anyone has the other CDs please share your impressions...



Thanks a lot jamloun for really enriching the subject and sharing some interesting facts about Alla.

Well, you got me really tempted now to hear that other track you mentioned of Alla....can we have a grip on it? I tried to find his CD, but unfortunately found nadda !!!

jamloun - 8-9-2007 at 12:44 PM

Hi Oud.Proff,

It seems like u should be able to get this ALLA CD via Amazon (at least the french amazon):
http://www.amazon.fr/Foundou-Bechar-Alla/dp/B000001UC7/ref=sr_1_1/4...
and also on canadian amazon:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/B000001UC7/sr=1-1/qid=1186692...

let me know if for some reason it doesn't work out.

Cheers.

Oud.Proff - 8-12-2007 at 01:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by jamloun
Hi Oud.Proff,

It seems like u should be able to get this ALLA CD via Amazon (at least the french amazon):
http://www.amazon.fr/Foundou-Bechar-Alla/dp/B000001UC7/ref=sr_1_1/4...
and also on canadian amazon:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/B000001UC7/sr=1-1/qid=1186692...

let me know if for some reason it doesn't work out.

Cheers.


Thanks a lot jamloun. Will check Amazon !

charlie oud - 8-22-2008 at 04:10 AM

Thankyou Oud prof for bringing this CD to our attention, I recently purchased it and on first listening it blew me away, Extraordinary improvistation, an exquisite touch and beautiful phrasing. It is a breath of fresh air to hear a player who is not controlled by the rules of Arabic music, Alla proves there is no need to modulate and instead weaves a tapestry in the musicality of a single scale, all too often modulation sounds more like the player has run out ideas. These improvisations from Alla are tasteful, fluent uninterupted statements of musical expression. Lovely.

stringmanca - 8-22-2008 at 07:46 AM

Some CDs by Alla are available on Amazon US as imports (but this particular CD is a bit expensive!):

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1219419194/ref=sr_nr_n_11?ie=UTF8&r...

Jamloun, are there vocals on the one you have or is it all instrumental?

Thanks,
Nathan

FastForward - 8-23-2008 at 08:58 AM

This taqseem is truly amazing and fantastic.

Thanks.