Pylorus - 1-8-2009 at 03:17 AM
Hi everybody.
I know that this topic has probably been posted before, but i searched and couldn't find it. I'm looking for som oud literature best in english. Any
suggestions? I've seen some on amazon. Can't quite pick the best. Thanks for the advice.
hama - 1-8-2009 at 04:25 AM
try this
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=8078#pid529...
Pylorus - 1-9-2009 at 01:55 AM
Thank you very much, that helped a lot. I thought of buying it before...that makes things a bit clearer.
DaveH - 1-9-2009 at 02:05 AM
As Hama's post shows, if you're looking for instrumental instruction, there's good stuff available produced by members of this very forum! In addition
to Marina's book there's also OudProff's DVD set.
But I understood your question might be more about oud music context and theory. I've read one or two of the more popular English language volumes -
others on the forum will have a more comprehensive knowledge - I'd meant to post a quick summary in the reviews section as I thought it might be
generally useful for people of my level wanting to find out more. They all have quite different focuses so it really depends what you're looking for.
There's nothing I'm aware of that's specifically on the oud - the volumes below are all more generally on Arabic classical music, but given the oud's
centrality to this topic, they should to the trick. I'm not familiar with books on Turkish music, but they do exist.
Ali Jihad Racy's book "Making music in the Arab World: the culture and artistry of tarab" is a fantastic resource. It concentrates on the cultural
context and actual performance practice and combines his insights both as a musicologist and performer. It's also geographically confined to Egypt and
the Levant. It's really accessible, very well written and overall a fascinating read. I also have one or two interesting journal articles by Racy and
if you have access to online journals I'd recommend you search for him.
Habib Hassan Touma's book "The music of the Arabs" is more of a survey of a wide variety of musical styles across the arab world and sphere of
influence and includes quite a lot on the Gulf states. There's also a lot more on the purely vocal styles than in Racy. It's interesting but not as
focused as Racy's (it's not intended to be). I also think it may not have been translated as well as it could have been (the original was in German).
I've also dipped into Farmer's "A history of Arabian Music" but not read it cover to cover. As the title suggests, this gives a much more historical
approach, from the pre-islamic period to the end of the Abassid caliphate. There are also several other volumes by Farmer on Arabic music. He's one of
the earliest Western authorities, but I think might be getting a little dated now (this book was published in the 1920s).
Hope this helps!
Marina - 1-9-2009 at 08:23 AM
http://www.amazon.com/Music-World-Islam-Amnon-Shiloah/dp/0814329705...
Also Amnon Shiloah's book in English
Pylorus - 1-9-2009 at 12:16 PM
Thank you both for the advice. I was just searching for some book for the induction into the oud. I'm really a beginner although I play the guitar for
some years now. Once again thx