Mike's Oud Forums

Hamza El-Din Oud Type??

rojaros - 8-6-2008 at 03:06 PM

Hi there, I'm quite new to oud but I kind of intuit the sound I'd like, and that is the sound of Hamza El-Din.

Does anybody know which oud maker makes ouds of that character?

I suspect he plays quite a big instrument and it has a very full und warm percussive tone

I Will greatly appreciate your contributions

corridoio - 8-6-2008 at 03:13 PM

hi Rojaros
here is a link of an old post about the 1917 abdo nahat of Hamza El Din
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=1092#pid723...
ale.

corridoio - 8-6-2008 at 03:19 PM

playing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe51cXxK4Oc

corridoio - 8-6-2008 at 05:19 PM

about the luthiers, everybody here has is own idea and taste
between the luthiers nowdays working
as for iraqi oud my preferite it's Fawzy Monshed, for classic arabic oud my preferite it's Nazih Ghadban,
he makes sometimes nahat style oud, now he get 2 or 3 on sell on his website and also sell usually old nahat ouds
I saw that all his last nahat models has cedar soundboard and longer Stringlength (60-62 cm), I think to reach warmer sound
I still have on my hd the sound of the "970 nahat model" so I post here
Ale.

madzub - 8-7-2008 at 08:15 AM

This isn't about the question -- but are there more videos of Hamza hiding in people's computers? I've seen the small handful on YouTube, and they bring back so many beautiful memories of a beautiful musician and being. He was the first oud player of some renown in North America -- there must be more video footage....somewhere.....?

journeyman - 8-8-2008 at 02:04 PM

One of my favourite oud sounds as well Rojaros. I have an old Garabet der Bedrossian oud that has a sound similar to the oud that Hamza el Din played. I am currently having the neck reset and will be selling it after that. If you send me your e mail address I can send you a sound clip and some pictures if you are interested.

best,
Roy

rojaros - 8-9-2008 at 01:53 PM

THANKS a lot for all contributions and links that are very educating...

I didn't know that so many people hold this kind of oud sound in such a high esteem; what I hear on CDs is usually different from that, so I thought my taste is maybe a little apart from the majority.

Does anybody know something about the actual size of this oud and the mensure (open string length)?

My Khidor Mostafa Daghir Oud I have written about elswhere in the Forum actually goes bin that direction, bit it's far from this aliveness and especially the highest strings are more dull.

http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7841

Also the neck is bent a bit at the nut side and so the the playability or the action is not that great.

So I still try to narrow it down to actual oud makers and models that are coming close to this kind of sound ideal...

Thanks in andvance for more ideas...

Melbourne - 8-9-2008 at 08:08 PM

Guys

Hamza's oud is probably the most sought after Nahat in the world - It's like the equivalent of the Kreutzer Strad! So the chances are if someone wants that same sound, ideally they are looking at a Nahat or something from that same period, Syrian, of high regard. After all its a 1917 instrument, and I can imagine a well made oud, like Ghadban's Nahat models would probably sound just as good in a 100 years time, not that they don't sound awsome now =P.

Another thing with the Hamza sound, is the tuning, I think its F A D G C F, but set back half a tone, so the two open ocatves are E instead of F. Also wood species and string lenght are important, Nahats and ouds in the more traditional style tend to have longer string lenghts of 61-62 cm. But more importantly, is the beauty of the wallnut bowl sounds. I dont know why wallnut bowls tend to be portrayed almost like second rate citizenz when it comes to bowls, every body wants rosewood, ebony and the like. But I reckon nothing beats wallnut for that old school sound.

Dare I say Sukar ouds, it occurs to me, are just about the only ouds, (other than the ghadbans) that aim for this old school sound, and they sound pretty good. Am sure people are familiar with the Muscat Oud festival cd box set, theres an artist on there by the name of Safwan Bahlawan, and he plays a Sukar oud. Also Amer Ammouri plays a Sukar on his latest recording.

rojaros - 8-26-2008 at 08:10 AM

Thank you!
Do you know by chance which model and how to get them?
Quote:
Originally posted by Melbourne
Guys

...

Dare I say Sukar ouds, it occurs to me, are just about the only ouds, (other than the ghadbans) that aim for this old school sound, and they sound pretty good. Am sure people are familiar with the Muscat Oud festival cd box set, theres an artist on there by the name of Safwan Bahlawan, and he plays a Sukar oud. Also Amer Ammouri plays a Sukar on his latest recording.

Melbourne - 9-1-2008 at 02:58 AM

Hi rojaros,

I got your U2U - sorry for the late reply...There is a always a lot of discussion on sukar oud in these forums. If you do a general search you will find plenty of information on these ouds. You are right, for some reason no one has ever had any luck in hearing back from Sukar's email quiery. MY ADVICE TO YOU - avoid a seller by the name of Palmyrami. Many people have had negative experiences with this seller, and although he has made posts on the forums here and apologised to people, the end result was no different, it seems that he beats around the bush a lot. I certainly was keen on getting an oud through him, and it was after all the dramas, but I was prepared to take the chance, but, I did not hear back from him - probably for the best :shrug:.

Every now and again you will find that a sukar is posted for sale here on the forums, thats one option. I happen to have a basic sukar oud, sturdy with good sound, but unless your in Australia, the shipping costs probably means its not worth the trouble sending it overseas.

All the best.

rojaros - 9-1-2008 at 06:02 AM

Hi Melbourne,

many thanks!