Arabic and Indian Cultures

We learn a lot of cool stuff about Arab and India. It is interesting to learn that the two cultures are hugely different and similar at the same time. I was amazed that the two cultures are influenced by each other.
One of the things I find interesting about the Arab musical culture is that Arab prayer is sung not chanted like the other Asian cultures. The way it was sung is beautiful and unique. I was amazed that there is a competition for singing the prayer. I would not have been able to hear the differences between the singers singing. Their prayer is really important and it has to be sung a certain way. I wonder if the parents themselves personality teach their children that prayer and the way to sing it.
Another thing that I find interesting is the oud. The way it is shaped fascinates me. I was surprised that the top of the oud is bent back. That is what makes it unique. The oud has a hollow body and a rounded back. The oud has fifteen strings. I would if a guitar has as many strings as the oud.

I find the konnakol of the Indian musical culture interesting. I always thought that to learn to play the drum one has to practice on the drum. In India, people have to learn the konnakol before they can learn to play on the drum or even played the drum at all. Konnakol is the spoken language of the drum. One has to know how the vocally recites the beat that they are supposed to play on the drum before playing it. I was surprised that they have a language for the drum beats. They have a word for different beats.

I find the sitar interesting. It has a lot of stick on the side of it for tuning. It looks complicated to tune it especially since there is a lot of sticks involved. I wonder how the artist knows how to tune it. Each stick is a different pitch and there is a lot of string in the instrument too. The oud sounds a lot like to oud to me.     

Overall it was interesting to learn the music of Arab and India. I was surprised to learn that Indian music was influenced by Arab music. Some of the Indian instruments look similar to Arab instruments and the sound the instruments makes similar sound too. I do not know if it is true this is just what I see and hear.