Iranian oud virtuoso to give performances at Malay festival

TEHRAN,July 4(MNA) – The Iranian oud virtuoso Majid Nazempur will attend the 1st Gambus Conference and Festival, which will be held from July 6 to 8 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The festival will focuse on two musical instruments gambus, most common lute found in different styles of Malay and south East Asia folk music, and oud, which is most common in Middle Eastern music. “I will give three performances during the event. I will also discuss the history of oud in world and different stories about this musical instrument in a lecture at the festival,” he told the Persian service of Mehr News Agency. He also announced that he will teach oud playing during a one-day workshop at the festival. Musicians from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Iraq, Lebanon and Canada will also attend the festival. Organized by the National Conservatory of Arts, the festival will feature several concerts, workshops, master classes and lectures. Gambus is a short-necked lute that originated in Yemen and spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Sachs considered that it derived its name from the Turkic komuz, but it is more comparable to the oud.