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…
Egyptian Ouds from 1800 to the 1930s
By Tarek Abdallah In the period 1800-1895, written and iconographic sources relating to Egyptian musical instruments describe one predominant model of oud, namely the seven-course instrument known appropriately as al-‘ūd as-Sab‘āwī. However, as discussed elsewhere on Oudmigrations, of the two 19th-century ouds that travelled from Alexandria to Brussels, one has only six courses, and a…
She played them a tune on her oud…
…that would make solid rocks dance.
Instrument collections and their stories
… collections are memories of peoples, each with their own traditions and languages …
An Iraqi gift from Syria
… a gift that preserved a treasure …
Nur al-Din and the green satin bag
What lies within…?
Oudmigrations launch concert
Memories of a celebration…
The refined craft of Damascus in Istanbul
Children need Qudmany ouds too…
A gem from Damascus, 1897
… the only known Damascus-made oud by the Qudmany family …
India to Kuwait
… an oud that crossed the Arabian Sea …
Syrian brothers in Istanbul
The movements of Damascene luthiery …
An oud in layers
All woods are linked to times and places…