…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…
Why do we collect?
In 1974 the Italian writer Italo Calvino wrote an essay called ‘Collection of Sand…
Alexandria to Brussels, 1879
By Rachel Beckles Willson There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding this oud. Victor Mahillon, curator of the Museum of Musical Instruments at the Brussels Conservatoire, acquired it from Alexandria in 1879. Saskia Willaert, curator of African Collections at the museum, has gathered sources relating to the purchase, and from these we learn that Mahillon…