How does Zhanna Saparovas flamenco steps illustrate the music through dance?
Bledsoe: My wife Zhanna is Turkmen and introduced me to Turkish music via Istanbul. We travel there every year to see family. She bought me my first oud there as a gift during our first trip. I would say that the music illustrates her dance rather than the opposite. Flamenco is sort of reversed in that sense. The music follows the dancer and she leads us. Zhanna is very into clothes! She changes costumes every dance number to illustrate the region or tradition. One number may be a traditional male dance so she comes out in the Spanish “traje corte” (pants and vest) and uses her arms as a man would. Others numbers are heavily Arabic so she wears her Turkmen metal jewelry and moves very feminine. Present: For those unfamiliar with an oud (like myself), how does this stringed instrument differ from it’s Western cousin, the lute, and even the guitar in terms of sound? Bledsoe: I always call the oud the “Grandma” of the guitar. The string length is almost the same and they are tuned to simi
