My friend Nouri, Sudanese, has been longtime friends with a wonderful oud and tambour player named Hassan, also Sudanese, who has lived in Holland for a long time. Hassan just came to Cairo recently, and is putting together a roots Sudanese band playing some of the most beautiful songs in the world. Oud, bass, guitar, and two percussion, and accordion. The melodies are wonderful, the rhythms are deep and the vibe couldn't be better. We practiced yesterday and today, and it sounds wonderful. The Sudanese music has a set of three bongos, and Issam plays them beautifully, then I'm playing douf and assorted big drums. It's my first time really playing all hand drums, and I love it. Yesterday and wonderful accordionist named Ibrahim played. We practiced in a place called Makan, which means "place" in Arabic, which every week hosts great traditional music concerts. All the drums used in those concerts are kept at the place, so when we go I can play all of them. I love one particular douf they have there, and I've started getting pretty good at it. It's got it's own set of techniques, just like the riq and tabla. The band sounds great. the songs go on for 20 verses or something; you sing a verse, jam for a while, sing another verse, jam for a while. Hassan explanied that all these songs are stories, so they take their time. All the guys in the band know where the stops are, which always come out of nowhere when you've been grooving for 15 minutes. I go to Morocco on June 22nd, and while I'm there hope to find some nice drums, a douf in particular. It's going to be a great time, I've dreamed of going there forever. Until then I want play with these guys every day.