Front and rear views of an oud. This one was built by Viken Najarian.

The oud (Arabic: عود ʿūd; Somali: Kaban; Persian: بربط barbat; Turkish: ud or ut;^[1] Greek: ούτι; Armenian: ուդ, Azeri: ud) is a pear-shaped, stringed instrument similar to a lute used in traditional Middle Eastern music and East African music. An oud. ... An oud. ... Look up oud in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... “Arabic” redirects here. ... “Farsi” redirects here. ... The Azerbaijani language, also called Azeri, Azari, Azeri Turkish, or Azerbaijani Turkish, is the official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. ... A medieval era lute. ... The category Middle Eastern music refers to music from the Middle East and its different regions such as North Africa, the Levant and the Persian Gulf States. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Eastern Africa ...

Name

The words "lute" and "oud" are both derived from Arabic العود (al-ʿūd, literally "the wood").^{[citation needed]} Gianfranco Lotti suggests that the "wood" appellation originally carried derogatory connotations, because of proscriptions of all instrumental music in early Islam.^{[citation needed]} “Arabic” redirects here. ...

The prefix al- (meaning "the") in al-ʿūd was discarded by the Turks who then transformed the word ʿūd (consisting of the Arabic letters ʿayn-wāw-dāl) into ud because the sound represented by the Arabic letter ʿayn is not present in the Turkish language. The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... or Ayin is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (in abjadi order). ...   Vav or waw is the sixth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic in abjadi order; it is the twenty-seventh in modern Arabic order. ... Dalet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

The oud was most likely introduced to Western Europe by the Arabs who established the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula beginning in the year 711 AD. Oud-like instruments such as the Ancient Greek Pandoura and the Roman Pandura likely made their way to the Iberian Peninsula much earlier than the oud. However, it was the royal houses of Al-Andalus that cultivated the environment which raised the level of oud playing to greater heights and boosted the popularity of the instrument. The most famous oud player of Al-Andalus was Zyriab. He established the first music conservatory in Spain, enhanced playing technique and added a fifth course to the instrument. The European version of this instrument came to be known as the lute - luth in French, laute in German, liuto in Italian, luit in Dutch, (all beginning with the letter "L") and alaud in Spanish. The word "luthier" meaning stringed instrument maker is also derived from the French luth. Unlike the oud the Europen lute utilized frets (usually tied gut). The Courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, one of the grandest architectural legacies of the Umayyads. ... Al-Andalus is the Arabic name given the Iberian Peninsula by its Muslim conquerors; it refers to both the Caliphate proper and the general period of Muslim rule (711–1492). ... The pandura is a type of string instrument. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... Zyriab (789- 857) (Zorab in Kurdish) was a poet and musician. ... A course is a pair of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually plucked together as if a single string, in musical instruments such as the lute, vihuela or mandolin. ... An engravers impression of Antonio Stradivari examining an instrument. ...

History

Aleppo musician with an oud, 1915.

According to Farabi, the oud was invented by Lamech, the sixth grandson of Adam. The legend tells that the grieving Lamech hung the body of his dead son from a tree. The first oud was inspired by the shape of his son's bleached skeleton. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Aleppo (or Halab Arabic: , ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzalagh al-Farabi (870–950 A.D.), also known in the West as Alpharabus, Alfarabi, or Farabi, was a Persian-Turkish (Encyclopedia Britannica) philosopher and scientist and one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of his time. ... Lamech (in Hebrew לֶמֶך Lemmech) is the name of two men appearing in the genealogies of Adam in the book of Genesis. ... For other uses, see Adam (disambiguation). ...

The oldest pictorial record of a lute dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia - Iraq -Nasria city nowadays, over 5000 years ago on a cylinder seal acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon and currently housed at the British Museum. The image depicts a female crouching with her instruments upon a boat, playing right-handed. This instrument appears many times throughout Mesopotamian history and again in ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty onwards in long and short-neck varieties. One may see such examples at the Metropolitan Museums of New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and the British Museum on clay tablets and papyrus paper. This instrument and its close relatives have been a part of the music of each of the ancient civilizations that have existed in the Mediterranean and the Middle East regions, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Persians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Armenians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans. The Uruk period is a protohistoric sequence in the history of Mesopotamia which stretches from 4100 to 3300 BC, before the apparition of a writing system. ... Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... Akkad (or Agade) was a city and its region of northern Iraq) between Assyria to the northwest and Sumer to the south. ... This article is about the Persian people, an ethnic group found mainly in Iran. ... Babylonia was an ancient state in Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... It has been suggested that Assyrian people be merged into this article or section. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ...

The ancient Turkic peoples had a similar instrument called the kopuz. This instrument was thought to have magical powers and was brought to wars and used in military bands. This is noted in the Göktürk monument inscriptions, the military band was later used by other Turkic state's armies and later by Europeans.^[2] According to Musicolog Çinuçen Tanrıkorur today's oud was derived from the kopuz by Turks near Central Asia and additional strings were added by them.^[3] Today's oud is totally different than the old proto-types and the Turkish oud is different than Arabic oud in playing style and shape.^{[citation needed]} In Greece and Armenia musicians especially use the Turkish ouds and tunings.^{[citation needed]} This article is about the various peoples speaking one of the Turkic languages. ... The komuz is a string instrument used in Kyrgyz music, closely related to the other Turkic string instruments. ... The Göktürks or Kök-Türks were a Turkic people of ancient Central Asia and China. ... Çinuçen Tanrıkorur (1938-2000) was an oud master and composer of Turkish classical music. ...

This oud is made by the famous Syrian luthier the late Abdo Naht born in 1863, Abdo George Nahat was the second of the (Akhwan al Nahat, or Nahat brothers) who sepecialsed in oud making and between them they have made the most valued ouds ever for their quality and sound.^[4]

Also the writing on the rossette is the names of the Arabic maqams not the Turkish keys (its very important to point this one out), and in the middle section of the rossette called shamsa or gmaria in Arabic, it reads "Abdo Nahat & Son Elias" other information such as the owner of the oud are undesputed.

Defining features

• Lack of Frets: The oud, unlike many other plucked stringed instruments, does not have a fretted neck. This allows the player to be more expressive by using slides and vibrato. It also makes it possible to play the microtones of the Maqam System. This development is relatively recent, as ouds still had frets ca. AD 1100, and they gradually lost them by AD 1300, mirroring the general development of Near-Eastern music which abandoned harmony in favor of melismatics.
• Strings: With some exceptions, the modern oud has eleven strings. Ten of these strings are paired together in courses of two. The eleventh, lowest string remains single. There are many different tuning systems for the oud which are outlined below. The ancient oud had only four courses - five by the 9th century. The strings are generally lighter to play than the modern classical guitar.
• Pegbox: The pegbox of the oud is bent back at a 45-90° angle from the neck of the instrument.
• Body: The oud's body has a staved, bowl-like back resembling the outside of half a watermelon, unlike the flat back of a guitar. This bowl allows the oud to resonate and have a more complex tone.
• Sound-holes: The oud generally has one to three sound-holes.

The neck of a steel-string acoustic guitar showing the first four frets. ... Vibrato is a musical effect where the pitch or frequency of a note or sound is quickly and repeatedly raised and lowered over a small distance for the duration of that note or sound. ... 19 scale piano Microtonal music is music using microtones — intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone, or as Charles Ives put it, the notes between the cracks of the piano. ... In Arabic music a maqaam (Arabic: ‎, Hebrew: ) is, a technique of improvisation that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and which is unique to Arabian art music. ... An attribute of some Islamic and Gregorian chants, it is the style of singing several notes to one syllable of text. ... A course is a pair of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually plucked together as if a single string, in musical instruments such as the lute, vihuela or mandolin. ... A classical guitar, also called a Spanish guitar, is a musical instrument from the family of musical instruments called chordophones. ... A pegbox is the part of certain stringed musical instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass) that houses the tuning pegs. ... For the political designation, see Eco-socialism. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... This article is about resonance in physics. ...

Regional types

Turkish Ud, an ancient musical instrument inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl
Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey

The following are the general regional characteristics of oud types in which both the shape and the tuning most commonly differ: Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1280 × 960 pixel, file size: 377 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1280 × 960 pixel, file size: 377 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...

• Arabic ouds:

• Syrian ouds: Slightly larger, slightly longer neck, lower in pitch.
• Iraqi (Munir Bashir type) ouds: Generally similar in size to the Syrian oud but with a floating bridge which focuses the mid-range frequencies and gives the instrument a more guitar-like sound. This kind of oud was developed by the Iraqi oud virtuoso Munir Bechir.
• Egyptian ouds: Similar to Syrian and Iraqi ouds but with a more pear shaped body. Slightly different tone. Egyptians commonly string only the lower courses up to 'g'. Egyptian Ouds tend to be very ornate and highly decorated.

• Turkish| Greek style ouds ("ud,ούτι") (Includes instruments found in Armenia and Greece): Slightly smaller in size, slightly shorter neck, higher in pitch, brighter timbre. It's known as outi in Greece and was used by early Greek musicians.
• Barbat (Persian Oud): smaller than Arabic ouds with different tuning and higher tone. Similar to Turkish ouds but slightly smaller.
• Oud Qadim: an archaic type of oud from North Africa, now out of use.

Although the Greek instruments Laouto and Lavta appear to look much like an oud, they are very different in playing style and origin, deriving from Byzantine lutes. The laouto is mainly a chordal instrument, with occasional melodic use in Cretan music. Both are always fretted (unlike the oud). This article is about the Republic of Turkey. ... In music, timbre, or sometimes timber, (from Fr. ... Anthem SorÅ«d-e MellÄ«-e Īrān Â² Capital (and largest city) Tehran Official languages Persian Demonym Iranian Government Islamic Republic  -  Supreme Leader  -  President Unification  -  Unified by Cyrus the Great 559 BCE   -  Parthian (Arsacid) dynastic empire (first reunification) 248 BCE-224 CE   -  Sassanid dynastic empire 224–651 CE   -  Safavid dynasty...

Plectrum (pick)

The plectrum (pick) for the oud is usually a little more than the length of an index-finger. Arabic players refer to it as a reeshe or risha, while Turkish players refer to it as a mızrap. Traditionally it is made from an eagle's feather or tortoise shell, however, plastic picks are much more commonly found today, and are considered just as effective and much cheaper. Oud players take the quality of their plectrums very seriously, often making their own out of other plastic objects, and taking great care to sand down any sharp edges in order to achieve the best sound possible. Various guitar picks A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. ... sheets of sandpaper Sandpaper is a form of paper where an abrasive material has been fixed to its surface; it is part of the coated abrasives family of abrasive products. ...

Oud tunings

There are many different tuning options for the oud. All tunings are presented from the lowest course/single string to the highest course. The following tunings are from Lark in the Morning and Oud Cafe:

Arabic oud tunings

• E A D G C ,Five Strings (Syria and Lebanon) - by Eduardo Haddad Ribeiro
• G A D G C F
• D G A D G C
• C F A D G C ,This is the most commonly used tuning.
• C E A D G C
• F A D G C F
• B E A D G C F ,Seven strings oud tuning.

Turkish oud ("ud") and Cümbüş tunings

• Old Turkish Classical Tuning: E A B E A D or D A B E A D
• TurkishArmenianGreek Style Tuning Variant: C# F# B E A D or B F# B E A D
• GreekArmenian Style Tuning: E A B E A D or D A B E A D
• Standard Cümbüş Tuning: D E A D G C

Standard Cümbüş The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Standard Cümbüş The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

List of famous oud players

In Iran: Hossein Behroozinia (1962-) Arsalan Kamkar (1960-) Mansour Nariman (1938-) Mohammad Delnavazi (1954-) Mohammad Firoozi (1957-) Ahad Goharzadeh (1958-?) Jamal Jahanshad (1948-) Yousef Kamoosi (1902-1987) Mohammad Khansarian (1948-) Hasan Manoochehri (1934-) Shahram Mirjalali (1959-) Akbar Mohseni (1911-1995) Abdulvahab Shahidi (1921-) Nasrollah Zarrinpanjeh (1906-1982) In United States Hossein Behroozinia (b. ... Arsalan Kamkar(Farsi: ارسلان کامکار) was born in 1960. ... Mansour Nariman (Born 1935 Mashhad) is an outstanding Iranian Oud player, researcher and writer. ... Ahmed Abdul-Malik (United States/Sudan) Sandy Bull (United States) Carmine Guida (United States) Rachid Halihal [2] (United States/Morocco) Naji Hilal [3] (United States/Lebanon) Basil Samara (United States/Lebanon) Scott Wilson (United States) of Armenian descent: John Berberian Richard Hagopian Roupen Altiparmakian (United States/Greece) (born in Adana, Turkey) John Bilezikjian Ara Dinkjian Charles "Chick" Ganimian Marty Kentigian George Mgrdichian Marko Melkon (Melkon Alemsharian) (born in Izmir, Turkey) Harry Minassian

In Turkey: Ahmed Abdul-Malik (born January 30, 1927 in Brooklyn; died October 2, 1993 in Long Branch, New Jersey) was a jazz bassist and oud player of Sudanese descent. ... Sandy Bull was a folk musical artist who was active in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. ... John Berberian (b New York City, c. ... Richard Hagopian (born 1937 in the small town of Fowler near Fresno, California) is an American Turkish-style oud player, and a well-known world music and traditional Armenian musician. ... Udi Hrant with his oud Udi Hrant Kenkulian (1901-1978) (ethnic Armenian) Coşkun Sabah Cinuçen Tanrıkorur (1938-2000) Serif Muhiddin Targan (1892-1967) Yorgo Bacanos (1900-1977, also known as Georgios Mpatzanos) (ethnic Greek) Münir Nurettin Beken Ûdi Nevres Bey (1873-1937) Necati Çelik Mısır'lı İbrahim Efendi (1872-1933) Udi Bogos Kireciyan (ethnic Armenian) Yurdal Tokcan Mutlu Torun In Iraq: Image File history File links Udi_Hrant_CD_jacket. ... Image File history File links Udi_Hrant_CD_jacket. ... Udi Hrant was an ud player of turkish classical music. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Cinuçen Tanrıkorur (1938-2000). ... Serif Muhiddin Targan (also known as Sherif Muhiddin Haydar in the Arab world) was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1892 into a well-off family. ... Rahim Al Haj Jamil Bashir Munir Bashir (Iraq/Hungary) Ahmed Mukhtar Naseer Shamma In Morocco:' Rahim AlHaj is an Iraqi oud musician and composer. ... Jamil Bashir Jamil Bashir was born in Mosul, Iraq in 1921 and is the brother of Munir Bashir. ... Munir Bashir (Arabic: ‎, Syriac: ܡܢܝܪ ܒܫܝܪ) He created different styles of the Arabian short scaled lute, the oud. ... Ahmed Mukhtar (b. ... Naseer Shamma is a renowned Iraqi musician and oud player. ... Tarik Banzi Ahmed El Bidaoui Said Chraybi Driss El Maloumi Armand Sabach In Palestine: This article is about the geographical area known as Palestine. ... Samir Joubran Simon Shaheen Nizar Rohana Samer Totah [4]

This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... Ahmed Fathi (born October 11, 1984) is an Egyptian international football player. ... Egyptian Australian Oud Virtuoso, Joseph Tawadros Joseph Tawadros (born 1983 in Cairo, Egypt) is an Egyptian Australian Oud Virtuoso. ...

List of famous oud makers

• Manol (Manolis Venios)(Greek, living in Constantinople - 19th cen.)
• Maurice Shehata (Egypt)
• Gawharet el Fan (Egypt)
• Salmeen (Kuwait)
• Nahat family (Syria)
• Necati Gurbuz (Izmir, Turkey)
• Nahat & Sons (Syria)
• Tasos Theodorakis (Greece)
• Hadi Usta (Turkey)
• Jafar Abedini (Iran)
• Nariman Abnoosi (Iran)
• Mohsen Ajdari (Iran)
• Mohammad Taghi Arafti(Iran)
• Mohammad Ashari (Iran)
• Fathi Amin (Egypt)
• Abdelrahman Darwish (Egypt)
• Gamil Girges (Egypt)
• Dimitris Rapakousios (Greek, www.dimitrisouds.com)
• Mohammed Fadehl (Iraq)
• Yaroub Fadhel (Iraq, making ouds in Tunisia)
• Nazih Ghadban (Lebanon)
• Hasan Manoochehri (Iran)
• Fawzi Manshad (Iraq-Basra)
• Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr (Iran)
• Mohammadi Brothers (Iran)
• Khalil Mousavi (Iran)
• Viken Najarian (California)
• Ebrahim Suker (Syria)
• Bahram Taherian (Iran)
• Faruk Turunz (Turkey)
• Mario Epstein (Idaho)
• Onnik Karibyan (Turkey, of Armenian descent)
• Faisal Alawy (Yemen)

Faruk Türünz is a Turkish luthier / oud maker in Istanbul, Turkey. ...

Note

See also

• Qanbūs

A qanbūs is a short-necked lute that originated in Yemen and spread throughout the Arabian peninsula. ...

External links

• Oud Playing Learn to Play the Oud by ear (For beginners, DVD)].
• SphinxShop Maker and innovator of fine ouds by Maurice Shehata and Gawharet el Fan.
• NileCart Best Egyptian oud gallery.
• Nazih Ghadban Maker and innovator of fine ouds and buzuks, Ras Baalbeck, Lebanon.
• Alsiadi's Music Scores Alsiadi's classical Arabic & Middle Eastern music scores
• Al-Oud/The Oud a website by Dr David Parfitt
• Maqam World a website by Johnny Farraj, Najib Shaheen, Sami Abu Shumays and Tareq Abboushi
• The Ud (Oud), its players and recordings
• Iranian Oud a website by Majid Yahyanejad
• Mike's Ouds, includes Oud Forums
• Brian Prunka Oud page
• Oud Cafe, a website dedicated to Oud music