so, im a beggining keyboard player and i just learned the arabic scales and thing they are totally awesome sounding. anyone know any other modes/scales that have the same feel?
The basic Harmonic Minors (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7), Phrygians (1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7) and Phrygian Dominants (1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7) obviously have that oriental sound in themselves, but if you listen to oriental music, a lot of it has to do just as much with HOW the scale is played and the phrasing as the actual notes played. Nubian oud players can take a major pentatonic and have that sound very oriental, just by nature of the way they play it. Same thing with minor keys -- natural minor (Aeolian) can sound very oriental when used wisely. I suggest listening to a lot of oriental music and getting into the phrasing of the vocals and the melodies - Farid el Atrache, Oum Khalthoum, Rabih Abou Khalil, Fairouz, and Munir Bashir for instance.
Went to listen to Anouar Brahem and his trio (oud / pno / acc) live today. Mitey beautiful oud playing, very meditative compositions. Pity I had to snap out of the calm to play a rock cover gig myself right after the concert. Just came home, listening to his "Le Voyage de Sahar", and it's sounding great.
This is AgustÃn Castellón Campos a.k.a. Sabicas. Technically he set the standards a lot higher. I would say he was the Paco de Lucia of the 40's (or you could interpret that De Lucia took over his throne). He introduced Flamenco in a grander scale (also outside Spain). To be honest. I'm very unfamiliar with him. I discovered him (this piece), because of Paco Peña's cover, also at YouTube.
A real fun one is the byzantine/hungarian minor scale.... Its 1, b2, 3, 4, 5 b6 7, so you have 3 chromatic tones, the 7th, the octave, and the flatted 2nd. I usually pedal around the 1 and the 4 on the bass, then noodle around the scale (really stress the chromatics), sounds hilariously middle eastern. Jake
