You CAN Play Rock Music on the Oud – Purple Haze Oud Cover

Navid

  Can you play Rock music on the Oud? Hell yes! And why not? I’ve decided to test the limits of the Oud’s ability to play different types of music, and I’ve decided to try my hand at Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, because why not? No one has done it before! It’s time to expand the repertoire of the Oud. Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix was practically a…

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The Ultimate Guide to Persian Music

Navid

Persian Music is EASIER to Learn   Persian music is definitely not as popular among Western peoples as is Arabic and Turkish music. There could be many reasons for this, but I think the two biggest ones are: 1.) The political climate of the last 30 years has closed off Iran’s cultural heritage to the world to only a select few with the tenacity to pursue it. 2.) The music itself rather introspective,…

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Sawt Al-Khaleej

Navid

  Today you’re going to learn about a really important genre of Arabic music. This music is timeless and ancient. It is very different in tone and feeling than Arabic music in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. You can call it Sawt Al-Khaleej, or Sawt for short. Sawt music is the Arabic music I find very intriguing. The rhythms are very unique, and the Oud playing is absolutely furious.…

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Can you Dance to Traditional Persian Music? Reng-e Nava by Hossein Alizadeh

Navid

    It’s no secret that Persian musicians are pretty serious guys and gals. Have you ever been to a Persian concert? It’s no dance party, that’s for sure. But if you take a really good look at the music, and the history, you’ll find that Persian music has dance written all over it. That’s what I’m going to demonstrate this week… No, I’m not going to dance… I’ll perform…

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Learn Guli Ya Hilu on Oud

Navid

        A few weeks ago you learned how to play a basic Jurjunah (Jurjinah) Rhythm on the Oud. Now it’s time to learn an actual song in this rhythm. We’ll learn Guli Ya Hilu, a well-know traditional Iraqi song. Check out the video below. Guli Ya Hilu is in an obscure Maqam called Lami. For information about this maqam listen to Jamil Bashir’s taqsim. You can also check…

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Jurjunah Rhythm

Navid

      Another widely known rhythm you may come across is Jurjunah. This rhythm is used a lot in Iraq, Kurdistan, and Iran. The rhythm is commonly written in 10/8. There are ten beats per measure. The key to understanding this rhythm is to remember how to subdivide the rhythm and which beats own the emphasis. Jurjunah is very straight-forward once divided properly. Jurjunah is divided into 3+2+2+3. The…

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The Difference Between Persian, Arabic and Turkish Quartertones

Navid

    If you don’t know anything about me, the first thing you should know is that I only started listening to Arabic and Turkish music about 8 or 9 years ago. I’m Persian, I grew up listening to traditional Persian music, and the bulk of my musical education is in Persian music. So when I started to listen to Arabic and Turkish music I noticed that the quartertones (or…

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The Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra

Navid

  Do you have any plans in the future to play in an Orchestra? Are you forming a world music band or ensemble? Here are a few things to watch for and some suggestions on how to solve the challenges you might face performing and collaborating in this fashion.   I started collaborating with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra in Vancouver back in 2005 or 2006. This was my first real…

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The Amazing SlowDowner

Navid

    Remember my posts on Farid Al Atrash Taqsim Al Rabeea? How did I learn some intricate parts of his taqsim, especially the really fast parts? I used an Oud learning tool called the Amazing SlowDowner. It’s a nice little app I downloaded to my phone. It’s great for practicing songs, transcribing them, and learning them by ear. One of the problems Oud players often have is tuning our…

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