Hello Friends!  It's been a busy season for everyone, and I wish good luck to all of you in this new year.  One of my resolutions is to update this blog page with a little more regularity.  I admit that's not saying much since I've set a fairly low bar for update frequency, but I'll press on.

One of my good friends is from Somalia, and he's been very generous about sharing his musical heritage with me.  The above video of Omar Dhuule, a phenomenal musician and oud (the wooden stringed instrument you see above) player from Somalia, is one of the most incredible performances I've seen recently.  The oud is like a guitar in many ways, except it lacks frets, has a much larger body, and uses a smaller tapered neck.  It's tuned in a variety of ways, mostly using Middle Eastern and North African tuning systems.  It's certainly not easy to play, and Omar Dhuule is a master.

For me, watching Omar Dhuule play really transcends any language barriers between Arabic and English.  Everything is clear in this music.  Hope you enjoy.