Improvisation (Bayati Mode with Quartertone)
Before Winter - by Dominika Alkhodari
Lahen Tayah - Muwashahat by Fouad Abdel Majeed
Gravitation - by Dominika Alkhodari
Forgotten - by Dominika alkhodari
Inititally I enjoyed working on a duo concept with the chromatic Harmonica. The sounds and overtones of the instruments are very suitable together and complement each other in a way. Armand and I already worked together since January '22 and we both have a certain type of sensitivity towards each other making comuniction and flexible dynamic simple and natural. Even though Armand sometimes plays many notes in a row, we both search and value silence and space. In moments we are able to create a type of transparency, that I wish for in my projects. The Harmonica is a considerably small instrument, and even though it cuts through more intenesly, the dynamic range and expression of the instruments work well together without sabotaging each other.
After a while I started to notice specific limitations of the presented combination. Armand has a background in Jazz and free Jazz and is very accustomed to play extensive improvisations and melodic lines as a Soloist. In most arrangments the oud naturally seemed to take over the accompagnatory role simply for the fact of being a string instrument. But the origin and natural habitat of the Oud is actual MELODY playing (within a modal Maqam context) too. Its strength is in the use of Ornaments, Tremolo and rhythmic grooves filled up by occasional basenotes, of which all I barely was able to make use of while keeping the harmonic line.
Non Oudplayers seem to not be aware how daunting and demanding chord playing on the oud is: to make each note in good intonation and full resonance with the natural tuning of the instrument is not an easy task and leaves little room for additional elements and techniques. Adding another layer to continuous chord patterns is oud virtuosity. The frustrating side of it is, that this is hardly hearable to an outsider and a simple guitar would do the same job better, even though sometimes it has a specific charm to hear a chord progression with the sonority and timbre of the oud, because the overtones mix in a richer and different way, than that of a guitar. But ultimately I DON'T WANT TO PLAY GUITAR, but use the native vocabulary of the instrument to its fullest, though not necessarily in a traditional context only. This seems to be a general difficulty and challenge within the spectrum of a 'contemporary oud' with non eastern instruments.
Another aspect are the limitations of a western diatonic system. Even though Jazz uses modality in equally interesting ways, I do miss the full capactiy of using microtonality whenever fitting. I am sure it is something, that we might be able to include to a certain extend, but it will require a smart thought process and creative solutions.
Last thing, that I felt limited to (and this goes together with the lack of a full spectrum of Maqam, which consist of plenty contrasting moods) is the often all too sweet and after a while bland expression of a simply 'beautiful sound'. I think in this regard it might help, if we consider and focus on actual dissonances more effectively and boldly as well as extending the qualitative sound and timbre expressions of the instruments to their more rare and extreme colours, however possible.