Mike's Oud Forums

Algerian Mandole tuning

islwynacoustic - 3-19-2008 at 11:41 PM

I have jut bought an Algerian Mandole (Mandol/mandola) -as used by Abdelli and members of Rachid Taha's band. It is a five course (10 string instrument) and I cannot seem to find a tuning for it on the web. Can anyone out there help?

John Erlich - 3-20-2008 at 08:30 AM

Azul Fellawen,

I just sent an e-mail to my Algerian mandol-player friend, Moh Alileche (http://www.flagoffreedom.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/mohalileche). I'll post his answer when I get it, Inshallah...

Ar tufat,
John

islwynacoustic - 3-20-2008 at 11:00 AM

THanks very much. I will look forward to your reply. I've just tried it in DADGA but the strings seem a bit slack so it is in EBEAB at the moment. I'm not sure of the intervals between the strings -tried EADGB and it sounded rubbish!!
Cheers
Rob

John Erlich - 3-20-2008 at 11:28 AM

Hi Rob,

Here is Moh's reply:

"Azul to you John,
I'm doing well, thanks!
I think the oud and mondol are tuned almost the same?
The way I tune my instrument in the case of 5 double strings: (E), A, D, G, B
A, (as string # 5) D, (as #4) G, (#3) B (#2)
Note: String # 6 (which should be( E ) in this case I leave it open. You can tune it in at least 3 diffent ways, depending on the style/genra etc.
I hope this will help a bit .
Moh"

If this helps and you like his music, you can thank him by ordering a CD. ;)

Good luck,
John

islwynacoustic - 3-20-2008 at 11:50 AM

John,
How does this work from bass to treble? Is it A, D, G, B, A. Where does the E fit in? This makes it very close to guitar. What is his full name so I check him out online?
Cheers
Rob

islwynacoustic - 3-21-2008 at 12:47 AM

Ah Moh Ailiche,
Yes I've come across him before and I bought a cd last night. The Amizigh certainly have a worthy cause. I spent time in the Atlas Mountains (went up Toubkal) and Anti-Atlas about 10 years ago and found they were a great people. When I was in Morocco I bought a load of cassettes by Lem Chaheb. I could not work out what type of instruments they used at the time (I thought it was some kind of bouzouki)-I thought the Mandola that Abdelli used was a regular octave mandola -now I know better!!

I have now got the Mondol back in E, A., D, G, B, and it sounds good -I obviously did something wrong previously. The instrument is very loud and considering it only cost £80 was great value.
Cheers
Rob