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…

Why do we collect?

In 1974 the Italian writer Italo Calvino wrote an essay called ‘Collection of Sand…

Oud of a luthiery student

By Karim Othman Hassan We know nothing of Mustafa, the maker of this oud, apart from the fact that he was studying carpentry or instrument making. So Stockholm’s Swedish Museum of Performing Arts (Scenkonstmuseet) is home to the instrument of an intermediate-level student. Why might the instrument be significant? Part of the answer lies in…