The middle eastern oboe plays an important role in folk music from China to Morrocco. It's a double reed instrument called mizmar in Egypt, and named zurna in Turkey. In China the Uygur people used the surnai or surnay in their music and in Iran it's known under the name sorna or sornay which means literally "strong flute". The word nay means flute. According to other sources sorna simply means horn. The Nepalese version of the is in a cresent form and looks more like a horn. Another related instrument is the Indian shehnai which contains the same root "nai".
Arab music tradition is the urban-based music of the eastern Mediterranean region ranging from Cairo to Beirut, Damascus and Aleppo. This music consists predominantly of precomposed songs that is, pieces in which a composer has determined the form and content of the music to be performed.
Rembetika.com, official site of the Rembetika Hipsters - Greek rembetika, tsiftetelli band from Calgary Alberta ... Since 1996, their repertoire has included authentic Greek Rembetika songs, original Canadian compositions in Greek, Balkan & Middle-Eastern ... rembetika. video. images ...
Studio Almaya is a studio for music studies founded by Yair Dalal, who dedicates himself to
continue the Jewish-Arabic musical heritage, and pass it to the future generations. His
Goals are to connect and advance young musicians towards the ethnic musical branch, encouraging ethnic
music creativity, and establishing an archive for ethnic music. Almaya became a meeting
Point for people from all ages and origins, which find the studio the only place in Israel
Where they can enrich themselves musically and intellectually in this unique tradition of Jewish-Arab music.
Studio almaya is located in the old Jaffa Port , Almaya means The Universe in Aramaic and On the Water in Arabic.
The classes and topics of the lessons are:
Middle eastern music
Rhythm
Scales
Tonality
Instrumentation:
Oud
Violin
Ney
Percussion
Vocal
Theory and practice
The Maqam phenomena and its philosophy
The history of Judeo- Arab music :
Composition
Songs
Composers and Singers as well as secular and religious songs
Project Spirit IsReal is about taking ancient Hebrew prayers and combining them with music & rhythms from all over the world: Indian Varanassi, Middle Eastern Sufis, trance traditions, chants from Brazil... Just a small portion of the musical influences in this project.
Since moving to Canada, Liu Fang has explored beyond Chinese classical pipa music, and collaborated with a slide guitarist from India, a cellist from Eastern Europe, a shakuhachi player from Japan, a zither player from Vietnam, an oud musician from the Middle East, and has recorded these multiculti collaborations with the Montreal-based Philmultic label.