The oud (by E. Powell)

The oud is the ancient form of the "fretless lute" which is in common use in the Middle East, Turkey, and North Africa. Although virtually unknown to Westerners the oud is as common in the Middle East as the guitar is in Europe and America. The oud originated centuries ago in Asia Minor and eventually made it's way, along with Islamic rulers, across North Africa to Morocco. Subsequent Muslim conquerors brought it into southern Spain where it evolved into the medieval lute. In fact, the name "lute" is Spanish for "the oud", = "l'oud", = "lude", = "lute". The lute then, of course, slowly evolved into today's "Spanish", or "classical" nylon string guitar.

The oud is a short necked lute with a pear-shaped rounded back and a very light framework. It usually has eleven or twelve strings (six pairs of doubled unison courses) and has a two and a half octave range. It's tone is very deep, rich, and somber, conjuring up Arabic and Turkic images for the listener. Being a fretless instrument the Oud is perfectly suited for rendering "makam-based" music with it's long single-note melodies and frequent use of micro-tones. "Micro-tones" are musical notes which would be found in between two adjacent notes on the piano. Typically, to the uninitiated ear, micro-tones, if stopped on and held, sound "off" or "out of tune". After some familiarization the listener tends to greatly appreciate the extra emotional "colours" included in makam-based music resulting from the frequent use of micro-tones. Actually, almost all music contains at least subtle use of micro-tones, but makam-based music is perhaps the only music in which micro-tones are systematically notated.

The oud is played either solo, solo with voice, or in chamber ensembles. Ouds can also be found in Middle-Eastern "orchestras" but in such a settling the oud's delicate voice is usually lost. Solo oud playing is usually the rendering of improvised and composed Ottoman (Turkish) or Arabic classical music. "Taksim" is improvisation moving between various makams and motifs. Taksim is usually flowed by a composition in the same makam.

Great exponents of Oud are: Necati Celik (Turkey), Munir Bachir (Iraq), Jamil Bachir (Iraq), Naseer Shamma (Iraq), Yurdal Tokcan (Turkey), Simon Shaheen (Palistine), Mehmet Bitmez (Turkey), Omar Nachichbendi (Syria), Said Chraibi (Morocco), Ferid Atrach (Egypt), Yorgo Bacanos (Turkey/Greece), Udi Hrant (Armenia), Richard Hagopian (Armenia), Oskar Plakcilik (Turkey), Jamil Ghamin (Yemen), Hamsa el Din (Nubia) and many more... About 30 years ago classical music conservatories began emerging for the first time in the Middle-East, the result of which is a whole new generation of brilliant young oud players. The young musicians are taught using modern teaching methods modeled after European examples. The oral tradition exists no more.

Solo oud with voice is often used to render classical compositions. These compositions tend to be very long, elaborate, and beautiful single note melodies set to deeply romantic poetry. Well-know oudist/vocalists include: M. Abdel Waheb (Egypt), Said Mikewi (Egypt), Riad Sombate (Egypt), and many more...

In North Africa and as far south as Sudan, the oud is now commonly (but not traditionally) used to accompany the vocal folk music.

There are essentially two types of ouds in existence; Arab and Turkish. Iraqi ouds are essentially Arab oud with a flouting bridge and oval shaped sound holes. Between Arab and Turkish ouds there are several significant differences. Arab ouds have a slightly larger body size, a slightly longer string length and employ significantly higher string action (hight of strings from the fingerboard), however the most significant difference between the two is the soundboard bracing pattern. They are braced almost identically with the exception that on a Turkish oud the third brace is extremely shallow which means a greatly increased flexibility in the center area of the soundboard. The result of this extra flexibility is the main reason why Turkish ouds have a more resonant and mellow tone.

There are, also, major differences in Turkish and Arab oud playing styles and techniques. The most recognizable difference is that Arab oud players tend to use a tremendous amount of high speed picking as a tremolo effect. Turkish players avoid overdoing this and opt, instead, on exploiting a range of left hand hammering techniques called "charpmas".

The modal systems "makam" (Turk), and "maqam" (Arab) also differ, although have a huge amount in common. Many of the makam/maqams are nominally the same (and very close in practice), however Turkish and Arab intonation are really quite different, Turkish micro-tones often sounding a bit "softer" than Arab counterparts. Turkish music official theory, although still a far cry from what the musicians actually play, included a greater number of micro-tones than what you will find in Arab official music theory. Both systems are equally rich in micro-tonal content but the point is that Turks and Arabs micro-tonal placement is very different.

Going back even further we find that the origin of the oud as well as the origin of Arab and Turkish classical music is found in ancient Persia.

Today the oud is just beginning to experience her birth in the West thanks to the pioneering work of oudists such as Rabih Abou Khalil (Lebanon), and Anouar Brahem (Tunisia) who have performed and recorded with prominent Western jazz musicians.

The world's first "oud orchestra" lead by Naseer Shamma (based from the Arab Oud House, Ciaro), containing 33 oud players is now in existence - and performing internationally.

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