Iraqi maqam

Thanks Masal!

Now I am back in Czech. . . thinking that I made a nice trip and now I can get back to normal life. . . . But I realised that the 3 months there was just cracking the door opening slightly and eves dropping for a couple of moments!

There is SO much out there. Sure, most of it is almost dead now in actually practice - but so much has been documented and this will take me years and years to digest.

Iraqi - Persian - Azeri - Kurdi - etc etc etc

Let's see.... if my girlfriend will agree to marry me then I will soon have to go somewhere again... (EU visa problem) I am thinking about Azer?

I gotta get into Iraqi maqam, but at the moment I am zero----- I realised I also never really digested M.A.Waheb... shameful isn't it??

Edward, I wouldn't waste your time with Azerbaijan - it's a filthy ex-Soviet basketcase of a country with very little of musical interest (unless you are a connoisseur of mobile phone ringtones that is...). Mostly just corruption and conspicuous consumption like the rest of the former Soviet Union. Much better to go to Iran, which is an endlessly fascinating place - I'm sure you would find it very rewarding, and there are quite a few Iranian oud players and other musicians that you should be able to get in touch with fairly easily.

All the best

David

Quote:

Originally posted by David Parfitt Edward, I wouldn't waste your time with Azerbaijan - it's a filthy ex-Soviet basketcase of a country with very little of musical interest (unless you are a connoisseur of mobile phone ringtones that is...). Mostly just corruption and conspicuous consumption like the rest of the former Soviet Union. Much better to go to Iran, which is an endlessly fascinating place - I'm sure you would find it very rewarding, and there are quite a few Iranian oud players and other musicians that you should be able to get in touch with fairly easily. All the best David

Hi Edward

I spent a few weeks in Azerbaijan in 2003, but things could have changed since then I guess. I have heard that there is some kind of music scene in Ganja (Ganca), but it is near Nagorno-Karabakh and we were advised against travelling there as there were roadblocks etc. and things were tense at the time. There was a nice museum of musical instruments in Baku, with a few ouds, but I wasn't allowed to take any photos unfortunately. I think Marc Loopuyt has done a CD with Azeri musicians, so might be worth checking that out?

Would still recommend Iran over Azerbaijan any day though, as I just think it has so much more to offer - like Cairo compared to Alexandria I guess!

All the best

David