Najib
03-05-2006, 23:15
In 1944 my father had a small choir. Amongst the young men and women there were 4 young men with very different characters but the common thing between them was that their voices were the closest things you could hear next to Abdel Wahab! Their names were Georges Katramize, Jean Araouadi, Georges Estelli, and Saba Nasseh (died last summer).
Because of the beauty of their voices my father decided to compose this piece just for them! The Makam is ottoman (Acem Kurdi), the format of the liturgic poetry is byzantine, but the tune and the rendition is sooo Arabic.
Anton Effendi, I'm afraid you won't be able to come up with any equivalent of this piece :-)
World War II ends shortly after, my father is sent to Paris for his studies, and the men of the choir never sang again (apart from Katramize). Fourty years later I studied engineering with the son of George Estelly, and I heard him once privately humming something by Abdel Wahab. His voice was devine! Saba Nasseh was the driver of my school bus so when he was in a good mood, I use to hear his gorgeous voice humming something whilst driving.
My father was told that in the seventies the Unesco issued an LP on which this piece is recorded as a show case of Arabic church music, but this is to be confirmed.
What is certain is that this summer I will playing this piece on my Oud accompanied by Matthaios Tsahourides on pontic Lyra, and by a fantastic Armenian duduk player that I hope to introduce to you soon! This will be part of the Byzantine festival convening in London this summer. This piece was chosen to represent the Arabic style of church singing.
I'll leave you to savour why!
Because of the beauty of their voices my father decided to compose this piece just for them! The Makam is ottoman (Acem Kurdi), the format of the liturgic poetry is byzantine, but the tune and the rendition is sooo Arabic.
Anton Effendi, I'm afraid you won't be able to come up with any equivalent of this piece :-)
World War II ends shortly after, my father is sent to Paris for his studies, and the men of the choir never sang again (apart from Katramize). Fourty years later I studied engineering with the son of George Estelly, and I heard him once privately humming something by Abdel Wahab. His voice was devine! Saba Nasseh was the driver of my school bus so when he was in a good mood, I use to hear his gorgeous voice humming something whilst driving.
My father was told that in the seventies the Unesco issued an LP on which this piece is recorded as a show case of Arabic church music, but this is to be confirmed.
What is certain is that this summer I will playing this piece on my Oud accompanied by Matthaios Tsahourides on pontic Lyra, and by a fantastic Armenian duduk player that I hope to introduce to you soon! This will be part of the Byzantine festival convening in London this summer. This piece was chosen to represent the Arabic style of church singing.
I'll leave you to savour why!