Transcription #1
‘ahlan wa sahlan!
That’s the extent of my Arabic. It means “hello and welcome.” I’ve got a book now and I’m working on it. Little by little.
So here’s my first transcription. It is a Sama’i in the Nahawand maqam composed by UCLA professor Jihad Ali Racy. It took me a while to finish but here it is. The piece is pretty easy for a Sama’i and I figured it out rather quickly. Getting it into Sibelius and onto this blog, however, posed a series of technological hurdles that delayed it’s delivery. But I’m happy with the results and I learned a lot on the way.
First off, I should say that I took this off of Simon Shaheen’s Turath album. This album has been my number one source for learning oud licks and phrases. It’s a must have for anyone interested in the instrument and traditional Arabic music.
Sama’is are in 10/8 and the phrasing follows the Iqaat, or rhythmic mode, of the piece. I tried to beam the notes in a way that would match the phrasing of the Sama’i.
The last phrase at the ends of Khana 2 and 3 are not played on the repeats, hence the “1st time only” note above the staff. There are also variations and embellishments throughout the piece that I felt were unnecessary to notate since these are usually improvised.
I wanted to post the mp3 along with the score so you can follow along but I don’t know if that’s possible on Tumblr. So…I will put it in the next post.
Cheers!
