washerman's dog: Abdel Hamid Tnnari

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Setting sun (M)oud Music: Abdel Hamid Tnnari (Updated Link)

I’m in a ‘oud-y’ mood these days. Just have to regular fixes of those Arabic gut strings pulling on the heart strings.

I don’t know and can’t find anything out about Abdel Hamid Tnnari but assume he’s Egyptian or Lebanese. Maybe Iraqi or Syrian. Can someone help?

So I guess that about sums it up for me. Nothing much to say except, that you are in for a treat. This album, despite its rather silly name, is splendid oud playing by someone who obviously knows the instrument intimately.

In case you don’t know what the oud is, think of it as the grandparent of the European lute. Tnnari plays solo (as you’d guess from the title of the album) as well as sparsely and tastefully accompanied by violin, derbouka (small hand drum) and mazhar (Egyptian tambourine). Music for the setting sun.

PS. I was recently contacted by Abdel Hamid Tnnari's grandson who is currently living in Sweden. He has confirmed much of the information provided in the comments below about this grandfather. I'm so pleased he reached out and I was able to share this recording with him, which he was not aware existed. For links on Abdel Hamid's son, Hassan Tnnary's playing you can find lots on YouTube like this.