I`d like to see some of these turkish players that allegedly smoke Souhail and Issam..I find it hard to believe myself....

Apples to oranges, yup, this Turkish vs Arabic thing.

But then so much of the current Turkish bag is borrowing from the Rom, Indians, Persians and Central Asians (or is it they are cross influencing each other constantly lol) these days so if you are familiar with, or play from, those idiosyncrasies then there's no big deal. While I enjoy playing and listening to 'chops' oriented idioms at whatever statistical density, I will always appreciate pure tone and the ability to make *a clear, concise statement with some room around it to define it as such* more.

So many of the Turkish players I see on the youtube are making a <sticks tongue out, purses lips, blows> it's like a raspberry with spraying spittle... When I see people play like so, I wonder, do they make the love the same way?

Music is like conversation....If you have one dude blabbing away constently, the other dude hasn`t got room to get a leg in..Essentially becoming and audience for the first dude. the only time the first dude stops talking is when he`s thinking of what he`s going to say next.never listening the the second dude at all.
Playing by or with yourself is one thing....but when you are playing with other artists (musicians dancers ect) you have to leave room for interaction.
I know a dude that will talk and talk and talk for HOURS...non stop....He`ll even add your part in with lines like "so what your sayin is" and proceed to tell you "what your sayin" but you never said a word! I know musicians that do the same thing.....they want to be the one making the noise....A little off topic but with guitar I`ve found a secret song that seems to shut a lot of them up.....The star spangled banner................ a few lines in and they just stop and stare at you. one dude even took off his hat.

I'd like to make a heartfelt apology to Bob, a relative newcomer to the art of Tablah playing: totally innocent of these kinds of politics and posturings, who started this thread with the best and most honorable of intentions, for the threadjacking that has happened here.

However:

Sean, I am wondering why you're getting so worked up over this, and needed to stomp on Bob's good vibes to this extent, in this particular way.

Be aware, while it's "just a drum" to you, it's been a way of life and also healing for me to play drums: a way towards having a positive self-esteem where there was none, build relationships with other humans and also to have a livelihood for 20+ years now. And that's a very tangible thing.

I think that having heroes to look up to in one's life is very important, just as important as curing diseases, but on a different scale entirely.

eg: Souhail entered my life quite some time ago and fixed a lot of technique problems I was having, thus helping me get rid of a nasty wrist problem, enabling me to continue on with what I was put here on this planet to do, and coincidentally make a living doing.

I am not running around telling people HE'S THE BEST, even though if he isn't - he's damn close. And if there IS another exponent of that school of playing (Nadi al-Fonun al-Arabia) that's that good, well, where are they then?

It seems that you insist on having a negative reaction to a title instead of a positive reaction to the person-of-artistic-merits, which I find strange. No one is trying to sign you up for anything, where did you get this idea? No one signed me up for the Souhail fan club, either you are in it or you are not, either way it's ok. If you truly don't believe that he IS one of the best exponents of classical Arabic Tablah playing that's fine, man - but there's a loooooong line of people that will disagree. Look at who he's played with, and for, in his life, ffs! You wanted proof, well, take a look at that quite lengthy list, you ought to have heard of at least SOME of those people if you've been playing Arabic for a while.

It's proof of QUALITY, which you seem to find lacking, from your initial statement.

I have never heard the man himself going around telling people he's the best. If some people do, and they are entitled to their opinion, then that should be fine. Maybe for them, at that point in time, he IS the best. And maybe that will inspire them to carry on with broadening their horizons, and trying to be the best at something... anything!

It's true we are all humans (well, most of us are, I have my doubts about most politicians) but it is a given that we're all going to be better at different things, which is why you are an engineer for a living, and I am a musician for a living. No problem there... well, there shouldn't be.