Mohamed Al Qasabji was one the most influential Oud players and composers in Egypt during the 20th century. Learn one of his most well-know compositions right here.
I have a new tutorial for you to try out where you can learn this well-known tune called “Dhikrayati” (Zikrayati) by Mohamed Al Qasabji.
This video is an section from a full course of Egyptian music for Oud.
I chose this piece to teach because Mohamed Al Qasabji was one of the most talented Oud players of his generation, and a successful composer for Umm Kulthum.
A few features of this piece that I enjoy:
- It uses the full range of the Oud.
- It has a expressive beginning.
- It makes use of a really beautiful modulation to bayati on G.
- It goes in and out of different rhythms.
- It even has a short non-rhythmical taqsim in the middle.
- It has a “longa-like” end section.
This is perhaps quite typical of modern Egyptian Arabic music. There are often many rhythmical changes, which at the very least never lets you get bored.
There’s one word I can use to describe Egyptian music after making this Egyptian Music Course Vol. 1…
…Dramatic…
I compare this style of music with the traditional Aleppo style music of Al-Kindi Ensemble or Al Turath Ensemble.
Have a listen to Dhikrayati in the video above, and then have a listen to Al-Turath Ensemble here and you may hear the difference too.
It’s not really fair or proper to really compare these two types of music until you listen to a lot of both. But this is just my observation.
What do you think about Mohamed Al Qasabji’s style?
Tell me in the comments section.
Want to learn more Egyptian music on Oud?
I have more tutorials coming out in a new course specifically featuring Egyptian composers, and Oudists. These are “must know” tunes.
Next week another tutorial will be out on YouTube featuring another one of these tunes from Egyptian Music Vol. 1.
Make sure you click the link above and sign up in order to hear all about it. You’ll be playing some Egyptian music on Oud in no time.
