My daughter practicing with various people for a performance...

My beautiful daughter A was learning three traditional Omani tunes and with these first three pictures; we were not sure if she would be 'accepted' to perform or not.  She had to prove herself.  That kid learned all three songs (rather short I might add but THREE!) in one night and by three different people.  ONE!

Here we have Khalid, the sweetest man, teaching her a tune.  For two weeks we went up to the Association almost every night.  I felt like I had neglected my Ali and he felt it too but it was all worth it in the end.  She DID get to perform on October 8, 2011.

Meet Rajaa...

Laila....I haven't really dealt with her but she takes pictures and video taped the performance.

These are two of the four girls with A.  J in the middle is a sweetheart.  T on the right is also nice but a bit shy and reserved and doesn't speak much English but I could make her smile, which makes me happy!  J is the strongest or best female Oudist in Oman.

Here is Rajaa with some dude that played the TABLAH or some kind of Arabic drum.  Give me a break people, I am still learning and not just in one language but TWO!!  With my A is S.  She is the last one to make up the four girls that play the Oud in Oman.

They brought in another dude to help the girls with one of the three songs.  He was trying to figure it out as this is a traditional song usually sung by women in female only gatherings as I understand it and he is just remembering it before he taught my A.  I hope you realize that my kids and myself have never listened to any traditional Arab music in their short lives.  So, whereas most of the people that are born into this; they know the tunes but we don't.  I'm terribly impressed by A.  She rocks!

Then, we got a violinist and two other percussionists!  The tall dude on the end closest to me ended up playing the double bass for the performance.  It was so cool.  I have another video but they take for freakin' ever to upload so I will add it later.  It was terribly exciting for both A and myself to hear all this live!

Here is one of the three songs in partial called WAYLIYAH or ويليه .

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll dedicate the next few posts to the process of this experience!  I'm off to hang with myself (heehee) in front of the TV.  I haven't watched TV for such a long time!

I like how Amal rocks back and forth when she plays.  It's cute.  Also, isn't the drum cool?  Listen to that bass!  It is an equally beautiful piece of work!