Egyptian oud player and composer Ramy Adly performs Friday at the Kennedy Center
More recently, Rafiya has been living in the New York area, where — when she isn’t focused on her music — she teaches French (her first language) and Spanish. A facility with languages would appear to be among Rafiya’s fortes: She writes lyrics, and sings, in English, French and Lingala (spoken in Congo).
All about the oud
Just a couple of days after Rafiya’s concert, on Friday, the Millennium Stage will showcase the virtuosity of Ramy Adly, an Egyptian oud player and composer who moved to the Washington area earlier this year. Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Egypt, the concert will feature some of Adly’s own compositions, such as “Alexandria,” a piece whose streams of rapid-fire notes seem to evoke the energy of the storied Egyptian city.
During his performance, Adly also will speak about early music and the history of the oud. He is keenly aware of his chosen instrument’s pedigree. The lute-like oud is “an instrument of kings,” he says. Some translations of the Bible may allude to the harp-playing skill of David, who became a king, but Adly maintains that David’s instrument was the oud.
Raised in a Christian family in Assiut, in upper Egypt, Adly began taking lessons with his grandfather, a professional oud player, at the relatively late age of 15. He was soon hooked. “Maybe it’s destiny for me,” the 29-year-old reflected as he sat for a recent interview in a Capitol Hill cafe.
Following his early oud lessons, Adly relates, he studied intensively at the Arabic Oud House, a music school in Cairo, while pursuing a business degree at Assiut University, in his home town. He later worked as a music lecturer.
Also on Adly’s résumé: a busy teaching regimen via Skype. His School of Oud Online has reached fledgling players in at least 27 countries, including Norway, he says. Now that he is living in the Washington area, he dreams of founding a brick-and-mortar oud school.
“I’d love to add this instrument to American history,” he says.