Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: g'oud
|
|
MY TRIP TO CAIRO: round2
Hi Friends...
We had so much fun last year with my trip to Cairo - exploring many interesting topics!
I am going back, and will be there between May 5 and June 3... this time the purpose will not be to study, but to work.
I will be collaborating with Mohammed Antar... composing a cd and recording it as well --- we have a few nice concerts booked and will do our best to
get them well filmed. Then after all this we ought to have some impressive documentation and promotional material in order to book more gigs and stuff
into the future.
It should be pretty intense and fun. Probably I will be sitting in the flat the whole time refining the material, and then recording - so it will
probably be a much less reflective time than last year, and much more busy, with a bit of stress too.
Sound good to me. . . . . at the age of 46 it is about time that I began working rather than studying !!! 
...anyhow I will try to post things which are interesting.
Keep in touch!
|
|
|
siro
Oud Maniac
Posts: 57
Registered: 4-2-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: oudy
|
|
hi dear edward,i will be waiting for your intresting stories,
with the best wishes
and
good luck
|
|
|
Al Yahudi
Oud Addict
Posts: 29
Registered: 3-5-2009
Location: Middle-East New York City
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sahbak
|
|
good luck with that. go to sinai to relax if you can afford a few days to rejuvenate.
just cam back from there. we had an amazing time!
|
|
|
Luttgutt
Oud Junkie
Posts: 578
Registered: 1-10-2009
Location: Norway
Member Is Offline
Mood: Curious
|
|
Good luck, and have a nice trip dear Edward
Maybe it is about time that I visit Egypt too 
The wood might be dead, but the oud is alive.
|
|
|
Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: g'oud
|
|
thanks friends...
will write from there!
|
|
|
Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: g'oud
|
|
Hi Everybody... I have been here for a while.... mostly been staying on the outskirts of Cairo at the house of my colleague (Mohammed Antar) with
whom I will be performing, composing and recording.
Since I have been here however, my instrument http://www.edwardpowell.com/rmtar6.html suffered some major climate related damage and then I gave it major surgery - - - I have to reset the
necks, and have now finally get the strings back on, but realise that the necks are a bit too far back now - - - so I have got the bridges on very
very high.... still the soundboard is supporting it - so let's see what will happen.
Unfortunately I am not downtown so will not be in the middle of the Action this time.
However yesterday I did make it over to the ARAB OUD HOUSE, and hung out with some players there who we very welcoming. My feeling there was totally
different than it was last year when I was very disappointed. The guys there just came out and admited that there they do everything: Arab, Turkish,
Jazz, Western.... everything. And Turkey was critisized for only playing Turkish style.
I can see now that that is what I really prefer about Istanbul, that you really get the real Turkish pure style there. Here in Cairo they are much
more open and they mix everything together. It is not so easy to find the original Egyptian style anymore. . . .
|
|
|
Cocomaan
Oud Lover
Posts: 16
Registered: 2-8-2010
Member Is Offline
|
|
Quote: Originally posted by Edward Powell  |
However yesterday I did make it over to the ARAB OUD HOUSE, and hung out with some players there who we very welcoming. My feeling there was totally
different than it was last year when I was very disappointed. The guys there just came out and admited that there they do everything: Arab, Turkish,
Jazz, Western.... everything. And Turkey was critisized for only playing Turkish style.
I can see now that that is what I really prefer about Istanbul, that you really get the real Turkish pure style there. Here in Cairo they are much
more open and they mix everything together. It is not so easy to find the original Egyptian style anymore. . . . |
Where is the Arab Oud House in Cairo?
I kind of like that people are open to the different kinds of music. I've never been a purist, though. We all have things to learn from each other, in
my opinion.
|
|
|
Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: g'oud
|
|
yeah, i am starting to see this from both sides..... on the one hand if you stay pure and a bit conservative, then you can maintain a very high
level in a particular style. But if you are open to many different ways of doing things, the music grows very open and rich - but the level of any
particular one of those things you are mixing will otherwise not be so high - - - - there is a trade off in benefits and it all depends on what you
want.
Personally, I believe in being open, but there should be some limits and logic to it........ in other words: "open within reason".
|
|
|
Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: g'oud
|
|
today I taught Antar RAGA JHIN JHOTI, and then immediately composed his own RAGA, a bit similar to it! So then I helped him to
characterize/personalize this new raga - and we then composed a full piece in it.
it seems that when we create new things together the music starts to flow out very fast.... otherwise trying to learn the old pieces goes very slow
and seems a bit stale.
|
|
|
Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
Member Is Offline
Mood: مبتهج ; ))
|
|
There is a saying that tradition should be a guide, not a master.
Many of the modern players we consider good are creating new music using techniques from many schools but still based on tradition, even though the
tradition(s) come from different regional styles. Paying respect to the past while moving forward...
After all, do many western musicians still compose and play in medieval or renaissance style?
And do we expect them to because that is traditional?
How popular is medieval or traditional music? It appears that relatively few can make a living playing strictly these old styles as there is not as
great a demand, the majority preferring something more to their modern tastes.
| Quote: Originally posted by Edward Powell |
it seems that when we create new things together the music starts to flow out very fast.... otherwise trying to learn the old pieces goes very slow
and seems a bit stale. |
I find the same thing, and the fact is that I don't really like dusting off museum pieces, I prefer to leave that to the academics, and find the most
joy in being creative. Even when I play traditional tunes I find it necessary for my own satisfaction to play them in my own way, after all, we are
not the people who wrote them, to whom they came naturally.
One thing I love about Omar Bashir, I have about 1/2 dozen versions of the same piece by him, and every one is different.
|
|
|
ibn sina
Oud Maniac
Posts: 75
Registered: 1-6-2009
Location: New York
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
|
|
I just heard Omar Bashir play in NYC a couple of weeks ago with Jordi Savalas, ("Jerusalem"). He played one tune that I recognized from Munir Bashir's
album Mesopotamia. (The program was singularly lacking in info.) It was great. His style was wonderful.
Good luck in Cairo, Edward!
best,
Kiki
|
|
|
Edward Powell
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1212
Registered: 1-20-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: g'oud
|
|
| Quote: Originally posted by Sazi | I don't really like dusting off museum pieces, I prefer to leave that to the academics, and find the most joy in being creative.
|
actually we are not doing any traditional pieces - although we are playing in some traditional maqamat. The "old" pieces are our own which are a bit
old (one year or so) already.
|
|
|
Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
Member Is Offline
Mood: مبتهج ; ))
|
|
I know what you mean (now ), I feel the same about my own old pieces, I don't even
know how to play them any more, - that was then, this is now,- if you know what I mean...
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbprobrown/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
