TAQS.IM Middle Eastern Music

• Becca Stevens & The Secret Trio

  Antranig Kzirian sits down with Becca Stevens, Ara Dinkjian, Ismail Lumanovski, and Tamer Pinarbaşi to discuss their new collaboration entitled "Becca Stevens and The Secret Trio". 2021 GRAMMY-nominated Becca Stevens was in awe witnessing The Secret Trio’s performance at the GroundUP Music Festival a few years ago. The Secret Trio is made up of an oudist, kanunist and clarinetist who came together to create a new type of chamber music, combining the elements of sound, texture and rhythm with new and interesting approaches to their instruments. They perform original pieces and traditional melodies that fuse the microtonal modes and improvisation of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans, and elements of jazz, rock, classical and world music. The Secret Trio has played at the most prestigious venues throughout Turkey, including Cemal Reşit Rey Hall. Michael League, Snarky Puppy bandleader and founder of GroundUP Music, wrote most of the songs with Becca for the Becca Stevens & The Secret Trio album along with producing it. The record focuses on blending Becca’s effortless vocal talent and exquisite compositions with The Secret Trio’s mastered musical traditions. Becca is a highly respected collaborator and has worked with the likes of David Crosby, Jacob Collier, Brad Mehldau, Esperanza Spalding, and more. Topics include: Discussion of the project from the artists’ perspective. Dinkjian comments that it’s about music and people, and working with such talented individuals makes the music the easy part. Stevens enjoys playing with The Secret Trio (TST) and they all have a great relationship in the collaboration, having met in the studio after learning about each other at a festival in Florida. Dinkjian explains that Michael League flew to Turkey to see a TST concert and then invited TST to perform at the GroundUp music festival in Miami. Stevens was a performer at the same festival, and asked League for the “can’t miss” set and League immediately mentioned TST – Stevens was blown away by the group, and her musician colleague Jamie Haddad said “that’s your next band”, and League arranged for them to all meet and plan a project to work together. Discussion of the dynamics of bringing different artists in a fusion collaboration together to meld their talents and work to put out new material. Dinkjian explained that the recording was a bit of a different experience and the tunes were being learned in the studio by TST, as Stevens and League had written several tunes – this was a departure for Dinkjian, as he writes, arranges and rehearses, and executes compositions in the studio, whereas this was more of a creative process unfolding in real-time in the studio, and this stretched out his experience on the oud and was an exciting situation and a gift for him to learn from working with Stevens – and Dinkjian’s background is in some ways similar and different to the rest of TST’s members as is of Armenian descent, but was also born in America. The objective was to make the music bigger with their instruments. Dinkjian notes the significance and example of the album “West meets East” by Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar, which was one of the first fusion records from back in the mid-1960s. In relation, this new style surfacing with Stevens was something to notice and experience for TST. Lumanovski explains that the album unfolding was quite natural. Melodically simple structures emerged and were easy for the group to incorporate and together they found a common feeling and fit to project in their performance. Lumanovski remarks that Western music has a different feel rhythmically and this was an exposure for the group and it was an essential part of the recording, but concedes that it was a challenge to reach that point. Discussion of “We Were Wrong” and the modal characteristics of the melody with contrasting vocals, and how this juxtaposition is not common in western music. Stevens remarked that League is a bassist and works with Snarky Puppy, and dabbles with other instruments, including the oud. League would send voice memos of ideas, and “We Were Wrong” was one of those ideas. Stevens describes it as pastoral and spacious and that it inspired her as she developed the melodies for that song, and the music video was the result of open requests on social media for clips of dancers from all over the world. Chris McQueen (Snarky Puppy) helped them by editing the video footage which gives the viewer the feel of comprehensively choreographed footage, along with footage overseas from Turkey for more of the “West meets East” vibe. Dinkjian explains that League initiated many ideas on the oud, and for Dinkjian as an oud player he observed League’s approach as being quite different from his own, and the experience League provided for him was to broaden his work on the oud. Stevens notes that Charango, which is of Peruvian origin, and Ukelele are used on this track which gave it a mandolin, or harp-like sound toward the end of the track. Dinkjian notes that with Lumanovski and Pinarbasi, TST itself has a decent amount of experience playing western and classical music, and that the real new component of the project was Stevens and League and the specific flavor that they have, and they found their place in their world. Stevens loved the group when she discovered them, but she was especially fascinated with the kanun as she grew up listening to Appalachian folk music and is thus familiar with the hammer dulcimer. When Stevens learned that Pinarbasi plays the kanun differently than most with his fingers, it really stood out. Discussion of “The Eye” and the haunting oud counterpoint of the track. Stevens was inspired to discover and research poets from Armenia, Turkey, and Macedonia, and she found Nikola Madzirov and was drawn to his contemporary feeling. Through Lumanovski’s contacts, they were able to locate this poet, who had just dealt with a harrowing case of covid. They were able to meet, and Madzirov was quite helpful and passionate about assisting the project, and was fascinated that Stevens had found an unpublished poem of his to use for a song. Discussion of “California”, which Dinkjian believes is the “least out” of the album’s tracks. Paul Curreri wrote “California” and Stevens has been a fan of his and she kept this in mind for the record and League chose this song to be included, and Stevens notes this track is a bit of a “wild card” that stands apart from the other songs But this also led to a marriage of the sound between Stevens and TST, and her role on the guitar ties things together a bit more on this track, and “California” is a bit more folky and than the rest of the record. The album came out on 9/17, and the album release show was 9/13, so the group is in the midst of rehearsals and preparation and they are looking for more opportunities to continue with the project. Dinkjian explains that Stevens has a following in Europe and TST does as well, so they hope to take this throughout the world as an example of music to promote the project. Dinkjian notes that oud players are trained to make the singer as comfortable as possible, so he would bring two ouds to accommodate the vocalist. The group’s song “Bring it Back” is featured at the end of the interview.

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  33:21
• Aliya Cycon: Oud Player, Singer & Composer

  Talented young Oud player and singer Aliya Cycon joins the podcast. She was born and raised in America, but her music suggests otherwise. Singing in Arabic, Spanish and English, while showing off her exciting and virtuosic Oud playing, Aliya shares her curiosity for the world through her original compositions and multi-cultural covers. She has performed at the Nobel Business For Peace Awards in Oslo, and toured internationally as a “Cultural Ambassador” for the US State Department, selling out a 1,000-seat amphitheater in Amman, and performing in three Tunisian summer music festivals. Notable collaborations include Jordanian music stars Tareq Jundi, Nasser Salameh and Yarub Smirat. Tunisian icon Zied Gharsa, and LA-based pop singer Naïka. Aliya is sponsored by Godin Guitars, La Bella Strings, and Avid Technology. Check out her new Spain-based project, Aliya and the New Andalus. Topics include: Aliya is originally Polish, and grew up with piano, which was her first love, and she applied to start in jazz at Berklee and was accepted She went on a trip to Palestine with her father, and this left an impression on her - her father runs a coffee company with grassroots activities to assist and support underdeveloped communities This introduced her to Arab style music, and she was enamored with the style and the oud especially, which was her first stringed instrument This was her first experience with heterophonic performance and monophonic melodies She embarked on a journey from jazz piano into Arab music on the oud which involved the study of makam, taqsim, etc. Studied at Alwan for the Arts in Manhattan for an introduction to Arab music, which had just started to offer Arab music courses Interesting story of Aliya's first experience with Rast (Arab mode similar to the major scale, but with particular quarter tones and rules of interpretation) Came into contact with great records through her dance background, including Simon Shaheen's Turath and Ziad Rahbani's Ana Mush Kafr Ziad Rahbani is one of her main influences, which was her main entry point into Arab music, and Shaheen's compositions and tone as well, and Sharbell Rouhana (Lebanes oudplayer) and Marcel Khalifa The Arabic Music Retreat played a big role in her musical development (week-long music conference in Western Massachusetts at Mt. Holyoke College) Oud with vocals in the troubadour style embodied her art as far as how she progressed, and this was based in part due to certain artists she found inspirational Not a purist, she listens to various styles of music and different artists She is currently in Spain, and not surrounded by Arab taksim style music as much anymore, some more Spanish influences in her current environment The oud is a part of her brand, as a female artist Aliya also has some travel tips for oud players for soft-case and hard-case pros/cons She started with instrumental ideas in jazz fusion for oud, not as much with vocals, but this progressed over time - a binary question she faced as an American interested in Arab Jazz fusion Tigran Hamasyan was an influence, as an Armenian jazz pianist Spent some time working on her arranging skills with her second album and orchestration, and even explored cinematic composition styles She incorporated a second oud player for a time while she worked on her oud playing skills, and started to showcase her own oud playing Eventually, she added some Spanish and French vocals and imbued her songs with more of a Mediterranean hue, and geared toward playing for audiences that can enjoy her performance, using some flamenco influence as well She uses La Bella strings, and was able to spec her own strings, and received a Godin oud for her graduation gift from Berklee College of Music from her parents Godin reached out to her and asked her to perform at NAMM, and endorsed her, and now she has two Godin ouds Najib Shaheen restored her Syrian oud and she uses this for recording at times for her Prayer album, and she also uses her John Vergara oud for both live and recording and is on her Aliya and the Andalus album Her favorite oud is made by Abu Alaa, the Palestinian oud luthier - this oud provide a deep voice and was used on her song "Jasmine" Aliya conducted a tour in Kuwait in April 2019, and used her electric oud, but received help with finding an acoustic oud from a network of local oud players Aliya uses a Syrian tuning (Syrian oud tuning C-F-A-D-G-C), and discusses her experience with another high F string, and how this is more characteristic of Iraqi Ouds (Nasir Shamma, etc.) She is currently living in Valencia, Spain finishing her Masters degree and active with shows, songs, and videos, where she became inspired by Andalusian music and culture and exploring flamenco and fusion style with Arab music Aliya began studying and jamming with Pedro Navarro for flamenco guitar but notes some challenges arise with different keys when guitars and ouds work together Her time in Tunisia broadened her horizons with respect to understanding Andalusian and Ottoman influences amalgamated with North African motifs Over time she wanted to feature her oud and vocals more given feedback from listeners Aliya put a group together without a guitar to allow the oud to be more prominent, so the bass takes on a lot of responsibility with harmonic support (Miquel Alvarez), rounded out with a Balkan Gypsy trumpeter from Slovenia (Timote Kotnik) and a flamenco percussionist she knew from Berklee (Sergio Martinez) Aliya used harmony instead of heterophony in her style, and uses arpeggios for voices instead of full chord strumming on the oud, and how the different styles of her band members are compatible With live performance being so enjoyable, she made videos for her tracks to embody that spirit and as a marketing tool and brand building approach If she could only do one concert with any artist in history, Aliya would want to perform with Yanni Her playlist features some guilty pressures as Kenji Jiraq and a trio of Yemeni sisters called Aiwa with electro-pop and visuals, and Vicente Amigo as the "new Paco" Listeners can find Aliya on Spotify, CD Baby, and most streaming services by searching for "Aliya Cycon Project", and this will allow the listener to find all her albums including her new EP "Aliya and the New Andalus" Aliya is also on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook (search for "Aliya Cycon Music") Check out Aliya's new EP "Aliya and the New Andalus"

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  53:29
• Emad Shakouri: Persian Kanun & World Music

  Persian Kanun Master Emad Shakuri joins the podcast. He discusses how he started playing the kanun, performing with a multitude of musicians, world music and his approach to arranging music.   Topics Include: Spent time in Sweden, Iran and Turkey, where he bought a Kanun in Istanbul and used to practice 10 hours a day in Stockholm, in part due to his situation as an immigrant  In Iran, the santur was more common, and it was interesting to try an instrument that wasn't as prominent in the kanun, and his father made instruments (tar, santur and several others) Interacted with various Middle Eastern and Eastern European ethnic groups in Sweden, and used his playing of the kanun to mix all these styles together Found it fascinating to blend Persian, Kurdish and Turkish styles, and is close with Taksim Trio, which have performed on his recordings Shakouri has recorded 120+ albums as a producer/arranger Various kanun samples by Shakouri on the podcast, where he demonstrates his style His origins are in northern Iran, near the Caspian Sea, but has traveled all over the world Varies the different quarter tone possibilities for creative optionality, mixing and matching modes He plays with all his fingers on both hands, not with picks Traveled to South America with his University studies, and was exposed to a lot of different musical influences to incorporate into his playing, including flamenco Works with top singers throughout the Middle East for both recordings and performances, including top Lebanese artists like George Wasouf, George Arasy, Hany Shaker from Egypt, Angham from Egypt, Hata Muraghi and Habib Ali from Iraq, Koza Masayer, Ibrahim Tatlises, Emra with Jaylan, Emalsayin, Moraham Ahmati from Albania, Pandoura from Macedonia, Hamza from Macedonia, Spiros Kotis from Greece, Moeen (for nearly 20 years) and Googoosh from Iran, Mahashti, Khaliji, Nabil Shahil, and scores of others, including with jazz and fusion artists The concept of music as teamwork for Shakouri, and gaining experience by working with others, for example listening to different forms of improvisation Shakouri's first instrument was Zarb/Toumbek to learn tempo and rhythm, Percussion instruments from Iran to learn time, and he studied at his father's music school - his second instrument was the tar Instruments were forbidden for a time during his childhood during Khomeini's time, and his father's factory made instruments and had influence over this controversial dynamic At the age of 8 years old, he performed in front of a crowd over 2000 people Shakouri's brother is also a music producer, but more traditional Persian style influences Spent time with Ustad Shahid Parvis one of the most revered Sitar players For compositions and arrangement, he engages artists and singers to see how they approach their music Shakouri's signature is writing for string sections, with a Turkish string section, because they play all styles well Discusses how many Arab and Turkish music scales are originally from Persian, Armenian or Azeri culture Discussion of how instruments may move from region to region and different cultures may adopt and even improve the playing of these instruments beyond the original versions and styles Works with William Ross at Capital Studios and Persian artist Moeen, providing middle eastern style music for movie soundtrack projects and pop song recordings, incorporating kanun and also Turkish strings Has shared his arrangements with Ibrahim Tatlises, with a compliment that Oylesef, that Shakouri's arrangement was more impressive than the original Advice for new players is to listen to different kinds of music and various styles from all over the world to learn something, with an example of how Indian glissando vocals and sitar concepts helped him develop his style    

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  32:14
• Nune Melik: Violin, Babajanian & Buffett

  Violinist, Educator, Producer & Writer Dr. Nune Melik joins the podcast. As a soloist she has performed at Carnegie Hall and founded the Hidden Treasure International, which comprises research, performance, and lectures of rarely heard music. Recently she received her doctorate from McGill University, defending her thesis on Arno Babajanian. Topics Include: Melik was born and raised in Russia (Siberia) to an Armenian family Her sister Karine started with piano lessons, and Nune would tag along so she was exposed to music at an early age with her own piano instruction started at age 4 in the city of Ghazan Learned to speak Tartar and learned about the Tartar culture, and started learning violin at around 6 years old, all of which influenced her upbringing Her father played several instruments and played Armenian songs in the house Melik moved to Canada at 19 years old to further her music and academic studies, steeped in Russian and European classical music at first, then branched out a bit more into her own culture's music and the diverse array of cultures she had been exposed to over time At first, she wasn't interested in Armenian music or language, but then in her mid 20s her interests matured with her work performing the songs of Arno Babajanian The Hidden Treasure project began in around 2010, with the organizing of Armenian themed concerts and also the music of other countries Continued pursuit of her studies with a doctorate program in Canada, with research on Armenian music and specifically Arno Babajanian Her dissertation explored the lack of information available about Babajanian, and this was an emotionally draining effort to work on documenting his legacy with precision and credibility She worked with his son Ara Babajanian and their foundation to confirm and obtain the accuracy of various pieces of information for her research Many of the biggest hits during the Soviet era consisted of works by Babajanian, who was even known by songwriters working with Elvis Presley, and how Babajanian was introduced in Quebec to the French Canadian community A discussion of classical music training with some limitations in instruction since improvisation is not encouraged Worked on a fusion Arab-Israeli project with a Lebanese composer Her thoughts that in the classical world, her experimentation would be viewed as a negative, but she continued to push the envelope, and even spent time studying Eminem's lyrics and in Detroit Working on a new album, without any Armenian or Georgian influence, which will be international music that is yet undiscovered by most - Melik is at the cutting edge of fusion of classical and experimental styles Melik feels liberated with her doctorate degree to go out and do more in music, and plans to dedicate time and effort to improvisation and even exploring jazz How Melik feels that classical music can become too technical, and may lead to a lack of enjoyment by the instrumentalist Melik's work with Jimmy Buffet, and performing with him for his last song in his concert with a solo, which was an informative improvisational experience Melik is currently working to help the Babajanian Foundation obtain non-profit status in North America, to encourage and honor women in music historically, and wants to publish the first biography of Arno Babajanian in English Melik also continues her work with studying improvisation and maintains a busy performance schedule

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  32:17
• Danny Shamoun: Drums, Darbuka & Ney

  Danny Shamoun, a Los-Angeles based multi-instrumentalist originally hailing from Detroit, discusses how he started with Middle Eastern Music and transitioned to performing with System of a Down (SOAD), joining Scars of Broadway as a keyboardist, learning the Arabian Ney Flute and the impact of music theory and Makam modal based music. Topics include: Discussion of how Shamoun’s interest in music blossomed early, from the very young age of 3 with listening and watching to an Ibraham Tatlises video Shamoun’s youth in Detroit featured exposure to various ethnic groups like Chaldeans, Lebanese, Syrians, etc., and his parents frequently attended Arabic music banquets as opposed to rock concerts like what he saw others doing around him Shamoun was impacted by seeing musicians and their lifestyle and that influenced his interest in music, and he also noticed a little bit of “funk” from the music scene which piqued his interest At a local community festival, Shamoun was goaded into playing the dumbek on stage with the Levendes, a prominent Greek ensemble based out of the Detroit area, and he started to take note of the various time signatures and began learning about Greek music and prominent Greek singers Over time, Shamoun took his practicing quite seriously, and began studying with Johnny Seduwet to learn music theory which prepared him very well for the rest of his musical career Shamoun later traveled from Detroit to California and became involved in the music scene through an introduction to hard rock band One Side Zero, where he was able to meet and work with Ray Mayorga and was also introduced to John Dolmayan from System of a Down, and other bands such as Viza and The Apex Theory, and even a brush with Metallica Shamoun was invited to perform with System of a Down on stage to do a dumbek solo during various shows, which was a very inspirational to him as an aspiring musician, which led to his relationship with System guitarist Daron Malakian and his eventual work with Malakian’s side project Scars on Broadway Shamoun began working with System with PA work and Malakian’s guitar pedal controls during System concerts, which really helped him learn about production and sound, and became good friends with Mike Bordin from Faith No More as they all toured together Shamoun then began work with Scars on Broadway, and expanded from dumbek and percussion to keyboard playing to round out the band’s sound Shamoun came full circle from his music theory training with Seduwet as a youth and applied his knowledge on the keyboard, including his makam training which he could play on his Yamaha PSR 62 (which can play quarter tones), and then began taking piano lessons at the suggestion of Malakian and studied with Howard Richmond in Los Angeles which improved his playing Shamoun really focused on practicing and studying and preparing for Scars recordings and tours Discussion of Shamoun as a unique musician with his background and involvement in both middle eastern music and rock music Shamoun then turned his attention to the Ney (Middle Eastern flute), which expanded his musical horizons dramatically and Shamoun recorded Ney on Viza’s Aria record Ali Jihad Rasy at UCLA took Shamoun under his wing where Shamoun was able to key in on his Ney playing and also Shamoun started scoring films, in particular for a movie named “The Queen of the Desert” with such actors as Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day Lewis and James Franco Shamoun recently released an original song and music video where his percussion and Ney work are featured in “Seaside Sultress”, part of his ambient music projects for film scoring Shamoun’s group “The Global Trance Ensemble” is on various social media platforms Shamoun also worked at a studio in Detroit where he ran in to master kanunist Ara Topouzian which involved so much experience learning about studio life and techniques which had an enormous impact on his musical development Discussion of the uniqueness of the Ney with a double reed sound and embouchure technique which is exceedingly difficult to make a tone on the Ney, and the similarities in spirit of the “fresh water” instruments made of wood such as the oud Podcast listeners can enjoy the end of the podcast which features Shamoun’s track “Seaside Sultress”  

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  37:34

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