Mike's Oud Forums

Interview with Charbel Rouhana

Delucia - 11-17-2008 at 06:25 PM

كم كنت سعيدا عندما علمت عن اشتراك شربل روحانا في مهرجان العالم العربي في مونتريال،كندا. وكانت سعادتي اكبر حين حصلت على موعد حوار صحفي معه عبر مجلة معكم الالكترونية. حزمت حقائبي للسفر الى مونتريال من مدينه اوتاوا حيث اسكن وفي ذهني تزدحم الاسئله؟ لدي الكثير من الأسئلة بالطبع بعد سنوات عديدة من السماع لالبوماته.اين سأبدا؟

حين التقيته وجدته انسانا راقيا جدا كفنه، متواضع و تلقائي في تصرفاته. كان كريما في وقته حيث استمر اللقاء زهاء الساعتين مع ان كان تعبانا و قلقا جدا من تدريبه للفرقة استعدادا للعرض في اليوم التالي حيث اضطر للاستعانه بعازفين محليين لعدم استطاعة الفرقة الحضور باكملها.

لكي لاطيل عليكم اقدم اليكم هذا اللقاء و كذلك معزوفه من البومه الاخير.

http://maakom.com/site/article/1159

shareen - 11-17-2008 at 08:29 PM

Is there an English translation to this? It looks like the pictures were taken at his recent Montreal concert (same band members). He spoke only Arabic at that concert. No French. I thought it was odd. The host country speaks French and he speaks perfect French too. Why did he only speak to less than half of his audience? Don't misunderstand. I think Charbel is an amazing musician, really sweet man, but I did think it was odd that he spoke a great deal on the stage to only his Arabic speaking audience.

Oud Freak - 11-18-2008 at 01:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by shareen
Is there an English translation to this? It looks like the pictures were taken at his recent Montreal concert (same band members). He spoke only Arabic at that concert. No French. I thought it was odd. The host country speaks French and he speaks perfect French too. Why did he only speak to less than half of his audience? Don't misunderstand. I think Charbel is an amazing musician, really sweet man, but I did think it was odd that he spoke a great deal on the stage to only his Arabic speaking audience.


Were you at that concert or you have been told that he only spoke arabic?
As for the translation, our user friend is saying that he was impressed by Charbel Rouhana and he found him great as a musician especially that the other performers who performed next to him were strangers.
Regards,
OF

shareen - 11-18-2008 at 02:41 PM

Yes, I was at that concert. I speak enough French to understand when it is spoken but I speak no Arabic! He asked the audience if he should speak French or Arabic and the first one to answer said "Arabee", so Arabic it was. Yes, I know that he played an unbelievable set with Canadian musicians after flying into Montreal I think the day before! The western musicians, as good as they were, did not really understand improvisation in Arabic music, but nevertheless it was a very impressive concert. The women were all singing along and dancing. After all, he is a bit of a "lady killer". It was really great!

SamirCanada - 11-18-2008 at 02:45 PM

Shareen was at the concert.

I went to the Omar Bashir concert the week after.
he was great also but the other accompanists.... no comment.

Also, I heard from people that where there that Charbel's concert wasnt that great.
he was singing a lot... he didnt any solo oud... they rehearsed 3 days together and apparently the supporting cast wasnt up to speed...
he is mainly trying to emulate the style of Marcel Khalifeh these days and I dont think its a good direction personally. There is nothing wrong with making patriotic music but I think his oud sings better then him and his fingers are blessed by god to play the way he does. its to bad he doesnt incorporate much solo oud in there.

shareen - 11-18-2008 at 07:32 PM

Actually Samir, I would have to agree with you on that one. I happen to love Charbel's songs and treatments of other's songs, so I am a bit partial. His oud was not loud enough. My non-oud playing friend with me asked me if he was Lebanese pop star. He also talked too much. Much of his material was from an earlier album which he sang a lot on But all in all, I really loved his show. His sidemen were clearly Western musicians. When they were asked to take a solo, they didn't have a clue. But I still loved it. I also saw the show on Thursday which was sacred music of Islam and Judaism in Northern Africa. Totally fantastic. John Erlich opened a thread on oud and spirituality. This would have been a great concert for him.