Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music

Subject: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: Folkbloke
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 09:02 AM

Please does anyone know of an English language tutor for Egyptian or Turkish Oud, and Turkish Baglama. Also any sources of Middle eastern sheet music suitable for these instruments for either solo or playing for bellydance. My wife and daughter are both bellydancers and want me to supply live music for them. Please help, I am being nagged. Regards and happy easter etc. Adrian. (folkbloke)

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: alison
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 09:20 AM

The last time I went belly dancing.. they were dancing to the "Mask and the mirror"CD by Loreena McKennitt....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: Mark Clark
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 10:20 AM

It depends on where you live. If you live in Toronto, Detroit or Toledo you can probably find one. Also maybe Worchester, Mass or there abouts and possibly Huntington or Charleston, Wv. I'm trying to think of places where there are large enough populations of Arabic speaking people to support musicians.

When Arabic speaking people put on a party (hafli) it's the best party you've ever seen but they often have to bring musicians half way across the country because there are so few here.

Look in your local phone book to see if you have a Serian or Antiochian Orthodox Church or perhaps a Mosque then call them and ask questions. If they know of anyone they'll surely give you a lead.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 20 Apr 00 - 11:21 PM

Philly and LA, also--not easy instruments to learn, because you have to learn completely different scales, pitch, etc--Also, Arabic music and Turkish music are totally different, so you have to choose--contemportary belly dancers tend to prefer Arabic music--though a while back, it was mostly Turkish that was preferred--

An easier idea is to learn a few Armenian tunes--they use the Western scale, and they even use electric guitar from time to time--

For a start--I suggest you learn to play Miserlou, it is a standard with every Greek/Middle Eastern Club band, and familar to all Belly Dancers--

Oud is a very cool instrument, but has a very high threshold of competence, because you have to develop an ear for the music, a feel for the beat, and master the instrument, and you have to learn to improvise--

My best advice is to buy a dumbek, and get someone to show you a basic rhythm pattern, you'll be able to play for your dancers right away--also, you'll need to know the rhythms while you are learning to play the oud--

I warn against the baglama--the care and feeding of this instrument is a real pain, it needs amplification, and god help you when you break a string(or even need to re-tune)--

I assume that you are a guitar player--I have worked out a guitar tuning that allows you to play Eastern European music, Greek, Armenian, etc, with a very oud-like feel--it is similar to Turkish Oud tuning (but with six strings instead of 5 courses)--it requires a bit of explanation to get it to work, but it does work very well--let me know if you are interested, and I'll put pen to paper (I haven't written anything about it, so it'll take me a bit of time--otherwise I'd have just posted it here)

Good luck--

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: Folkbloke
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 04:24 PM

Thanks all for the Help so far. Ishould have said I was in the u.k. I did say that my wife and daughter are both bellydancers and usually use recorded music. I have already taken lessons on Doumbek, douf and Req, and am quite o.k. with the various rhythm patterns and variations. I have also several pices by Hafez and Fairouz among others but tey are mainly vocal backings. My ear has developed well from constant exposure to Arabic and Turkish music so I find the various modes and scales, half quarter, eighth and sixreeth tones, are quite easy to handle if you are not frightened of them, and I have produced some fair sounding improvs when playing with our Egytptian percussionist at haflas, but I really want to get some of the Arabic standards. My baglama is a strange beast. It is a cumbus baglama, 3 double courses, and a deep metal bowl resonator with a small "banjo" skin. It is a very pleasing, but powerful instrument requiring minimal amplification to hold its own. and tuning is easy with western style mechanical machine heads. Italso uses standard long neck, loop end banjo strings. So anyone with further help, you now know a bit more about my set-up. Adrian

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 05:54 PM

Here's what I came up with in a quick search of Google:

For music books, this came from this site http://leb.net/ma/FAQ:

Suggested Books of songs:

A_Near_Eastern_Music_Primer_, by Mimi Spencer, third edition September 1994.
Subtitled: "Seven Easy to Medium Pieces for instruments and/or Voices -- with No Quarter Tones".

_Sadika's_Tunes_, by Mimi Spencer, first edition August 1994.
Subtitled: "A Collection of Near Eastern Melodies Transcribed and Arranged by Mimi Spencer". Six tunes without quarter tones and seven with quarter tones.

* Where can I find some arabic MIDI files?

There is a fairly long list of sites with arabic sound files. Please see RMA's webpage for a starting point, at http://leb.net/rma/

This one, http://tamburaweb.com had some fantastic looking links to all kinds for eastern European music some of which had the instruments you mentioned listed. To go directly to the links page, click here

Hope this helps. Good luck!

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 07:30 PM

I am curious as to what your Egyptian drummer can tell you--The piece used for Bellydance is really a classical turkish or arabic form that includes a song, a couple Taqsim, at least two distinct rhythms, as well as a couple of makams for improvisation--

All of the records that include extended pieces for Bellydancing use this structure, so you can actually just sit down and count it all out, and you''ll have the structure to work with--

Makams (or Maquamat) are not simply scales, each has it's own set of rules for improvising, which you would learn from a classical master--

Perhaps you will excuse my skepticism, but I find it hard to believe that you have acquired any sort of mastery of Arabic and Turkish scales simply by ear--the music tends to be very complex, and is an intellectual effort, as much as anything--It is best to keep this in mind when you approach a master--

I would go to an Arabic or Turkish club, where the musicians know what they are doing, and talk to them about who the masters are, and how to find them--There are a lot of people around who fudge there way through--

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: Sorcha
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 08:27 PM

I have Mimi Spencer's booklet, and it is a great starting place. She give some history and theory, with tunes, drum rythyms, and a standard notation of makams in the back. Not the end all for Eastern music, but a good primer.

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Apr 00 - 08:58 PM

I ahve a fantastic CD called Rhythmic Essence, The Art of the Dumbek all solo drumming by R.A. Fish, put out by Lyrichord Discs. Liner notes say it is usually played in ensemble, but he does an incredible job, IMO, of presenting it as a solo instrument. In a certain mood, I could lsiten and dance to it for hours. And, have learned some of the intricacies by ear, although not the technical names and techniques as a real performer would need to know.

The cuts are: African Dance; Whirling Dervish Rhythm; Pakistani Sufi Rhythm; Middle Eastern Dance (Beledi, Chiftetelli, Beledi); Ghawazee; and, Rhythmic Essence. There are bells and chimes in some of the cuts, and an original flute melody included in one.

We had a troupe from Africa perform here a few years ago. I was captivated by the dumbek, esp., but all of the drums were incredible.

kat

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Apr 00 - 10:13 PM

What a coinkydink!!

~S~

Subject: RE: Help: Middle Eastern/Bellydance Music
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 27 Apr 00 - 09:57 AM

Here is a great site with samples of the basic arabic scales and rhythms, played by real musicians (as opposed to MIDI bits) there is even a video, so you can see how the hands and fingers work, on both Oud and dumbek--Click here

It is from a music and dance performing ensemble at UCLA--where they have a great Ethnomusicology department--they not only collect and study, they teach performance, so it is probably worth e-mailing them to see what they can offer--