Samai Bayati (Marcel Khalife)

Thank you Matthew

Really.. it has been a very hard challenge.. and took me serious, extensive practice for over a month. I thouroughly analyzed every single musical phrase, and for some phrases I had to repeat them on slow playback for infinite times until I fully understood them. Then I'd start playing the phrase slowly, and gradually increase the speed until satisfied with the result, with endless repeatings. I have the score, which was easy to read, but it has only been the guideline; what I really worked on was all the very small details that make a big difference. That's the secret

And about the score you have.. it seems a version other than mine, since mine is not annotated. And the B passage you have should be the "Taslim" (This is what it's called in Arabic), the other passages being "Khanas". Can you please share the music sheet you have?

Thank you Katakofka and Eduardo
Looking forward to listen to your versions!

My oud's maker is Georges Bitar, from Lebanon.

Hi Reda

Really good, I enjoyed this a lot, great tone throughout and very nice risha technique particularly in tremelos. What have you learnt most from doing this? just curoius as these things are always a bit of a journey.

Leon

Thank you guys. It's really a pleasure to hear that you enjoyed it

Leon.. you gave the best description: A JOURNEY. I really learnt a lot from this Samai, except for the tremolo technique which I already acquired previously. It has been of immense benefit regarding all types of techniques you may hear in the passages, especially for the fast ornamentation notes, and particularly in the taslim part, which was the hardest. At first, it was very frustrating not being able to play the taslim well. But with time and a lot of practice, my left hand got faster and more agile.

Bravo, Reda

It is a really complex piece which must be very hard ( an long of course ) to make sound well.....and your version is amazing.
May be Matthew's score is from Marcel's book ( called oud ).
I have it and when following your playing with the score, I see the A, B, C.......parts in place of Khana, teslim........
In the fast phrases of the teslim, you return in low notes at each end. Is it a choice, a variation from another version......I don't remember Marcel's Khalifé's playing of this samai and these endings of phrases are not written on the book's score....but I like a lot this way of playing.
I don't know if it would be nice and helpfull if I tried to begin to work on this samai. Would it be a strong tool to progress or may be I have to improve my playing before.
I will try to "work" slowly on the teslim, so it could be an element of answer!!!!

Merci encore pour cet enregistrement, Reda, bien belle contribution une nouvelle fois!

Francis

Hi Reda,
really nice playing...you became a professional already..
But The truth is I didnt like this samaii although I do like all the music of Marcel Khalifa...
I think he has another samaii too..
Regards,

Merci beaucoup Francis
Thank you mrkmni

This Samai was a great tool for developing and improving technique. Francis.. don't wait until your technique becomes better because this Samai will make it twice better if you keep on practicing it. I could barely play the plain notes the first time I tackled it, but with time, and after endless frustrating attempts, I just found how fast it was improving my speed and technique. Just give it plenty of time and you will be very much satisfied.

Please keep on practicing and let us hear your version soon!! I would say it's a MUST-LEARN Samai!

PS: It's fabulous how Marcel composed it when he was 24. If I didn't have the score, I wouldn't have guessed that the teslim is written in 10/8. The teslim is simply amazing with the most unusual 10/8 rhythm I've heard.