Our oldest Nahat

By Karim Othman Hassan This Damascus-made oud is without doubt the most impressive and – to the best of our knowledge – the oldest surviving instrument made by the Nahat family. Until recently it was assumed that the brothers Rufan and Abdou Nahat (Ikhwan Nahat) founded the first Nahat carpentry workshop in 1880. It is…

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The oldest surviving oud?

By Karim Othman Hassan To date this instrument is the oldest Arab oud we know, and it may be the oldest surviving Arab string instrument at all. Its significance is all the greater for its having 7 double courses, which means that we can refer to it as an oud al mukmal, the term used…

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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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