prayerbone
Oud Lover
Posts: 15
Registered: 12-11-2005
Location: london uk
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Mood: pensive
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spiritual element to the oud
hi,i'm not sure if i'm going to get my meaning across,but here goes..
what are ur feeling's about the spiritual side of the oud? i guess i'm i trying to make the same connection with the oud as maybe shakuhachi (flute)
players make with there instrument...is there a history of this with the oud? sufi?
if anyone could point to some web pages or a book that discuss this i would be very grateful..
andy
ps sorry if this as been discussed before
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charlie oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 694
Registered: 11-19-2007
Location: Newcastle upon tyne. UK
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Mood: chords prefer frets
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I found this question while searching "sufi". The above was posted nearly 2 years ago and I'm wondering if anyone cares to comment?. There is
something very mystical about the oud and I'm sure many of us have experienced those special moments when we've felt at one with the oud and the music
we make, I would even guess that our finest moments often occur when we are alone, away with the fairies, improvising, and then a spark of magic,
never to be repeated because it was about "that" moment. I feel convinced that the oud seems to demand spontaneous improvisation from me, the more I
concentrate the less tasteful my selections, the oud wants to play itself. Im happy about it but wonder where this wierd energy comes from, is it my
fingers, my technique, my subconcious or some other spiritual dimension never to be fully understood?. This is getting a bit far out, but please join
in if you have similar thoughts. C
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
Posts: 454
Registered: 4-29-2008
Location: North Carolina, USA
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Being a new player, I've found I've had a bunch of those moments where you pick up the instrument and it just feels right. Almost always I'm alone
and just picked it up cause it looked like it wanted to be played... And of course the tone is better than it was a couple of hours earlier or
later...
Also, I'm finding that in trying to add ornamentation to simple songs, I'll just hit something that sounds really good... and the instrument seems to
respond... so I keep it...
But I think you could also make the case that a dialog exists between the musician and any instrument....
Chris Walters
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Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
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Mood: مبتهج ; ))
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I agree with you Charlie, mostly the more I try to "interfere" the worse it gets... I believe that when I "zone out" sometimes I'm just a medium for
the music to come through, and I'm always alone at this point. And yes Christian, I too have noticed that at those special moments the sound is
incredible, and you can bet that I couldn't repeat the music in the same way if I tried!
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charlie oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 694
Registered: 11-19-2007
Location: Newcastle upon tyne. UK
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Mood: chords prefer frets
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Well Sazi, I suppose that maybe there is another kind of practice we can explore. That is to learn how to approach our playing, I like your term "zone
out". I wonder if we can achieve this state of being through practice? & thereby increase our chances of making fine improvisations more often.
Chris, you have an interesting point about how you hear a better sound, I'm sure there is something going on here, a state of mind appropriate to
playing the oud and at times the oud pulls us toward that or we encounter it by chance and play some fine stuff. C
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Tkoind
Oud Maniac
Posts: 74
Registered: 7-24-2007
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Mood: dreaming
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Shinto believe that all things have a spirit in them. Many believe that when you put a lot of effort and time into something that it takes on a
certain part of your spirit to add to its own.
I have a wonderful instrument from Uzbekistan. The maker aged the wood for nearly 20 years before making into the final instrument. He took a long
time to carve out and set the inlay patterns. And then to bind each fret perfectly. Before it came to Japan it spent time in his shop where other
people played and enjoyed looking at.
Now it is here. We enjoy and play this instrument and it has taken on our input too.
I like to think of this instrument as the old man. It has a sound that is old and experienced. When playing it, I feel a strong sense of the maker who
made it. And when people hear it, they say there is a voice like quality to how it expresses melody.
I am not Shinto, but in every instrument we have there is a certain feeling. I can't prove it, but I think there is something to what they say about a
spirit residing in all things. And maybe that helps these instruments tap into our own spirituality to make us passionate for our music and to help us
play. I like to think so. And the Old Man and a saz from Haluk are my examples of feeling the presence of a spirit in the instrument that wants and
loves to be played and heard.
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
Posts: 454
Registered: 4-29-2008
Location: North Carolina, USA
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Tkoind,
I just got a chance to hear your tracks from rainineden... I dig the arragement... and I don't normally go in for techno-ish music... 
Chris Walters
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patheslip
Oud Junkie
Posts: 160
Registered: 5-24-2008
Location: Welsh Marches
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Mood: smooth
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Good points.
I try to practice oud every day for an hour or so early in the morning and love it when I loose myself into the music. Though it's a bit of a shock
to find I'm late for a job.
I find that the same happens with any instrument I can play well enough so I'm not sure if it's just the oud The worst (or best) instrument for disappearing into mystic space is some sort of flute played in a rocky
valley. Lots of natural echo and the burble of a stream to keep one company. It's almost like the internet for vanishing time.
Mind you, it's easier to take down the oud than go for a walk in the mountains just to play for a bit.
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