Day 2 . . . Otman n' Sean

Since I arrived in Granada last September, I've been recording la'ud with Otman Almerabet and emailing the tracks to Gnotes in Boston so he could prepare his ear for working on the album with Otman when he got here. Fresh off the boat, Gnotes had his first chance to meet Otman today, and despite the language barrier (gnotes todavia no habla español), they share a stringed-instrument naturalness in common. Communicating exclusively through music (and finger-pointing) can get you pretty far. As a lifelong guitar/bass player, I assumed Gnotes would pick up the la-ud, pluck around, quikget his bearings and start rippin. Turns out, despite their similar forms, the la-ud and the guitar are sufficiently different so that he couldn't really play it. Gnotes dice, "The neck was fretless, and I had difficulty staying in key. I think two pairs of the strings were tuned the same, but it was out of tune even when i just played it open."

Turns out, it was out of tune. Gnotes gave it a whack for about 10 minutes before passing it back to Otman, who tuned all 6 strings it, and then played:



(note: this is not actually a recording of that moment; it's from our January concert mentioned below, but its the same song he played today)

Gnotes: "I also naturally tried to play it like a guitar. Afterwards I saw Otman's hamering and pulling techniques, doubling with playing open notes."

Otman's quartet, Dar Ziryab, will be working with us on the album, recording pan-Arab music, with a focus on Al-Andalus between the 8th and 15th centuries. Of course, there's no recordings or even transcripts from this era, so it's hard to be certain that what we're (they're) playing is what they were playing 1,000 years ago (more to come on this issue).




The quikvid from my badcam taken at a Dar Ziryab concert that I tech'd the audio for in January. When setting up the mics I had to ask Yussef Mezgeldi (playing the kanun in te vid), "So.. where's the noise come out from?"



Tomorrow we're meeting up with DobleGota, Gnawledge's resident DJ in Granada, to send Otman's la'ud through Serato and a Technics 1200 Direct Drive Turntable. Part of the idea of the album is to reimagine an alternate history of Andalusian music which incorporates the methodology of hip-hop production.

I probably wouldn't have posted today if it wasn't for Wayne&Wax and his threat to hold me to my promise. Day 3 mañana