Oud
Oud ‘Ud Luit Luth Lute Barbat Kuitra
Al-’ud is a half pear-shaped with stripes of inlaid wood, the ‘ud has 10 to 12 strings.
The Oud is unfretted and is played with a long plectrum called a ‘risha’.
The oldest known oud or lute was discovered by the Americans in the tomb of the famous Egytian musician, Harmosis, who lived around 1500 BC. Oud means ‘piece of wood’.
There exist various kinds of oud, with different sizes and amount of strings used. The Tunisian oud is other than the Morroccan and the Iraqi ‘ud is different from the Sudanese or the Turkish. The strings are fixed in pairs except for the lowest one. The classical luth has 4 double strings and a fifth bass string. This latter one was added in the 8th-9th century by Mohamed Ziryab who introduced the luth from Iraq into Andalusia, the most southern of Spain, at that time occupied by the Moors.
The oud consists of a large soundbox connected to a short neck, distinguishing it from the long-necked lute family (tanbur, saz, baglâma, setar, tar). The body has a pear shape (the modern ones manufactured in Egypt accentuate this even more). The soundboard has one large soundhole and two small ones. The soundholes can be richly ornamented as well as the soundboard. They are called shamsiyya (from shams, sun), qamarat (from qamar, moon) or ayun (eyes).
The oudi or oud player uses a long risha / plectrum made of buffalo horn / eagle feather to strum the strings.
The oud has several tunings
an arabic tuning being: D G A d g c
“Old English lute tuning”: A D G b e a
The origin of al-’ud is a complex one to deal with. There are six theories on the origin of al-’ud: One says it is originally Sumerian, the second is Persian, the third is Egyptian, the fourth is Arian, the fifth is Jewish and the sixth is Akkadian of ancient Iraq.
The instrument from which the contemporary oud descends probably originated in ancient Iraq, specifically in the Akadian era (2350-2170 BC). It was further developed in Sumerian era (2100-1950 BC) and much later on, the instrument was adopted by other societies. In Egypt, the first use of the oud is dated to the Modern Kingdom (1580-1090 bc), after it had already been adopted in the region that is now Turkey and Iran. In time, a variety of oud was taken up in both Syria and Greece, according to Mohamed El Rashidi’s History of the Oud.
A detailed chapter in a book titled “Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments” by George Henry Farmer indicates that the Arabian and Persian lute was Fretted. Mr. Farmer in The Legacy of Islam (1931) wrote: “The Islamic legagacy to Western Europe in musical instruments was of the greatest importance. There were many distinctly novel Arabian types introduced. With these instruments came several materal benefits. European minstrels, prior to the Arabian contact, only had the cithara and harp among stringed instruments, and they only had their ears to guide them when tuning. The Arabs brought to Europe their lutes, pandores, and guitars, with the places of the notes fixed on the fingerboard by means of frets which were determined by measurement. This alone was a noteworthy advance.”
The oud with four double strings is also known under the name kuitra,. It’s name might be derived from the Greek word “Kithara”.(guitar?). We still find the name “târ” which means string in Persian.
1. The Term’ud
2. Early History
3. Description
4. Models of the’u d
5. Performance and Aesthetics
6. Study of the’ud
Literally,’ ud means ‘twig’, ‘flexible rod’ or ‘aromatic stick’, and by inference ‘piece of wood’. Ibn Khaldun (14th century),’ud denoted the plectrum of the lute calledbar bat. The etymology of the word has occasioned numerous commentaries, among them Farmer’s alluring thesis that the Arabs adopted the term to differentiate the instrument, with its wooden sound-table, from the similar Persianbar bat, whose belly is covered with skin. But this can no longer be defended. The choice of the term’ud depends on a discursive form of Arab thought which required some other word to define thebar bat before the’ud (the same applies to all the instruments of the emergent Islamic world): in this system of ideas, one term refers beck to another or is glossed by yet another, leading to a multiplicity of terms. As thes anj is described as awa nj, thebuq as aqar n, thedu ff as atar, the’u d becomes a synonym of thebar bat. The skin-wood difference was not taken into account. This play of reference is clear as stated by the 10th-century Andalusian writer, Ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi: ‘the’ud is theb ar bat’. Other writers, such as Ibn Sina and Ibn Khaldun, included the’u d under the heading of ‘barbat’ when speaking of its characteristics. In the 10th century, commentaries on pre-Islamic poetry by al-
Anbari (d 916) give the’ ud two semantic meanings:b ar bat andmi zh ar;m i zhar was to become a poetic substitute for the’ud. Earlier, it could equally denote the lyre, suggesting a process of transference from lyre to lute, the lute gradually acquiring the attributes of previous string instruments and becoming a sublimation of them. This transference is noticeable in the earliest Arabic versions of the Bible, wherek in nor (lyre) is translated as’ud (lute).
source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19812999/The-UD-Theory-Finger-Placing-for-Left-Handed
