back to list

Arabic quarter tone guitars

🔗Leigh Smith <leigh@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx>

9/9/1999 11:20:06 AM

> Oops -- I was thinking "fixed-pitch", which of course the saz and
tar are,
> but they are not "fixed fret" since the frets are movable. However, I'm
> almost positive I've heard 24tET electric guitars in Arabic or
Persian pop
> music, does anyone know of any evidence?

The films I have seen of Mohammed Abdel Wahab's (the Ennio Morricone
of Egypt) ensembles used standard 12TET guitars, but it's not beyond
belief that 24TET guitars are in use there, but certainly we are
mostly talking about Arabic pop music (i.e popular bellydance) which
tends to look for hybrid west/east forms. All the groups I've seen
will use standard electrics but use modes which approximate maqam
rows, emphasizing minor seconds and minor thirds with bends. If a
performer/composer needs more than 12TET, they would probably use an
'ud.

--
Leigh Smith leigh@tomandandy.com (MIME)
tomandandy +1-212-334-0421 (W) +1-212-334-0422 (F)
89 Greene St. New York, NY 10012, USA
http://www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~leigh
Microsoft - What do you want to re-install today?