Gary, All this is great stuff and I really appreciate the bibliography at the end. Many thanks. Your questions about the Ud as a living instrument is exactly my interest at the moment. While in Turkey I bought a Sarz (sp?) and now kick myself that I did not buy a method which was on sale including one for ud. The question I want to have answered one day is: can we fuse Arabic and Western musical traditions to create something new on the lute, without it being being gimacky and artificial, so as to bring to life again a living 21st century music beyond tradtional art music? I'm hoping one day it might be possible on my 14 course [Baroque without removing the frets. Good luck with your musicology work. It sounds very interesting indeed. Regards, Michael Stitt http://bachplucked.com/lutenist/
archlute <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hello Michael, At the risk of offending those who invest themselves in this very rich musical repertoire, apologies in advance. I'm writing a paper on this very topic for one of my ethnomusicology seminars at the moment. > >I am interested in finding out more about the legendary Ziryab the >musician, whose real name was Abdul-Hasan Ali ibn Nafi. I understand that >Ziryab was the man who first introduced the lute to Spain [Cordova]. As >well as this he was an influential composer and was also famous for his >fashion design and gastronomical skills too! > >My questions are: do we have any idea of the type and harmonic structure >of compositions written by this man? I suspect that there is none and >all we can go by is his reputation which seems to have influenced >middle-eastern musicians, particularly oud players. >Do we have any evidence of the type of musical composition - harmonic >structure he conceived on the lute, beyond the physical innovation to the >instrument ñ the fifth string? >From what I understand in the English language sources, harmony (as the western world >defines the term) seems not to have existed other than in a theoretical model. There >are many sources at the time that rely on Greek views of the monochord, however. From >what I've been able to gather, the oud seems to be a heterophonic accompaniment >instrument for the voice. I'm sure that solo music was played on the instrument, yet >the preoccupation with taqasim (the scales used by the players) theoretical >permutations seems to imply that vertical sonorities were not used. [It's an >interesting conundrum - they have plectrums but it seems as if they never strummed?] I would suggest that all lutenists investigate this instrument and it's repertoire. The oud is clearly a *living* tradition with a myriad of regional permutations that exist even today. In addition to interesting historical questions such as: when did the modern oud remove the frets that it had in the middle ages?, which system of division of the monochord was used in which locale?, etc., the instrument brings us closer to the lute because we can see a living tradition in action which, IMHO, provides a context for our own performance practice and sociological investigations. Further, I am just amazed at the level of musical thought occurring in Arab countries during the West's "Medieval Era". There are many musical treatises (some translated in part to english) that have changed my view of the western musical tradition. It seems the west was more influenced by this strand of musical theory that Grout (and I dare say Grove) could ever begin to mention. It's been a very enlightening investigation to say the least. I'm definetly not an expert on this by any means, just wanted to share what I have found in a very short time. Hope this helps. Gary Beckman PS Here are a few english sources that may help: PPS The first book has a few facsimiles of oud tablature from the 13th century. It's beautiful to look at and provides a foil to a few ideas about the lute that we may all share..... El-Mallah, Issam. Arab Music and Musical Notation. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1997. El-Shawan, Salwa. ³Traditional Arab ensembles in Egypt since 1967: ³The Continuity of Tradition within a Contemporary Framework?², Ethnomusicology, 1984, 271-287. Farmer, H. G. A History of Arabian Music. London: Luzac & Co., 1929. Racy, Ali Jihad. Making Music in the Arab World : The Culture and Artistry of Tarab. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Sawa, George. ³The Survival of Some Aspects of Medieval Peformance Practice², Ethnomusicology, vol. 15, no. 1, 1981, 73-86. Shedadi, Fadlou. Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995. Shiloah, Amnon. ³The Epistle on Music of the Ikhwan al-Safa², in The Dimension of Music in Islamic and Jewish Culture. Ashgate: Brookfield, Vt., 1993, 3-73. _______. ³The Ud and the Origin of Music², in The Dimension of Music in Islamic and Jewish Culture. Ashgate: Brookfield, Vt., 1993, 395-407. _______. The Dimension of Music in Islamic and Jewish Culture. Ashgate: Brookfield, Vt., 1993. _______. Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-Cultural Study. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1995. Touma, Habib Hasan. The Music of the Arabs. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1996. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard --
