Seeking beautiful photos for book publication

Exciting news! My forthcoming book The Oud: An Illustrated History is in preparation by the publisher (Interlink Books). Already packed with beautiful pictures, we are considering expanding it to make an extra section dedicated to the visual beauty of the instrument. If you own one or more beautiful instruments and would like to have them…

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Oudmigrations launched in Arabic!

It has been some time since we have published a new article, but now, finally, we can announce the launch of the Arabic site! Please spread the word to your Arabic-reading friends and send them this link https://arabic.oudmigrations.com/ This mirror site was made possible thanks to the generous sponsorship of Sheikh Khaled bin Hamad al-Thani. We are…

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A Tunisian musical icon

… the ʻAbd ʻAzīz Jemaīl Tunisian ʻūd (1923) in the Collection of Jellāl Ben ʻAbdallah

Salman Shukur’s oud

…a relationship between player and instrument could last after the player himself passed on…

The oud as a luxury toy

By Rachel Beckles Willson When in 2006 Ritter Instruments made an oud in its ‘Royal’ series that sold at auction for $620,000, it pushed the so-called King of Arab instruments into new territory. The price was partly a result of its materials, but wood was not the deciding component. Rather, it was the 103-carat black…

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