Photograph by Ali Abulohoom
The Yemeni Turbi
by Ali Abulohoom, Yemen Times, August 22, 2013
When he was 8 years old, Fuad Al-Qotari found a piece of wood lying around while playing with some neighborhood kids. He later learned that the object was actually a turbi, an instrument that had nearly disappeared from the Yemeni music scene after the 1920s.
Shortly after discovering his new find, Al-Qotari left Hashed district and moved with his family to the country’s capital, Sana’a, exposing him to more music. He began to follow many of the day’s most accomplished musicians and starting saving money for his own instrument.
His first instrument was the oud, and he was fascinated with its construction. “How [this] instrument was made interested me more than playing [it],” Al-Quotari said.
While he played some tunes of other musicians, his curiosity about the oud’s design was too strong. He put his instrument in water for hours and waited until it fell apart so that he could study each individual part. (more…)
↧