What the piano is to Western classical music, the ud (Arabic lute) is to Arabian classical music. Or maybe we even do the ud short with that, because where a pianist is bound by semitones, an ud player can extract any note from his instrument he wants. It is not without reason that the Arabic lute is also called the 'queen of instruments'. Haytham Safia (1980) wanted to make an album in which the
… different moods that this instrument can express could be heard. For this he composed seven pieces and in each of these compositions he uses a different scale. This fully highlights the versatility of the ud. The CD is also accompanied by a clear Dutch explanation of the instrument. Haytham Safia is no stranger to the Netherlands: he played as a soloist with Holland Symfonia in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. (MH)more
