‘Ūd

(oud; pl.: ‘īdān).

Short-necked plucked lute of the Arab world, the direct ancestor of the European lute, whose name derives from al-‘ūd (‘the lute’). Known both from documentation and through oral tradition, it is considered the king, sultan or emir of musical instruments, ‘the most perfect of those invented by the philosophers’ (Ikhwān al-Safā’: Rasā’il [Letters] (1957), i, 202). It is the principal instrument of the Arab world, Somalia and Djibouti, and is of secondary importance in Turkey (ut, a spelling used in the past but now superseded by ud), Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan (ud). It plays a lesser role in Greece (outi), where it has given rise to a long-necked model ( laouto); the latter is used in rustic and folk contexts, while the ‘ ūd retains pre-eminently educated and urban associations. In eastern Africa it is known as udi; in recent decades it has also appeared in Mauritania and Tajikistan.

1. The term ‘ūd.

2. Early history.

3. Description.

4. Models of the ‘ūd.

5. Performance, aesthetics and repertory.

6. Study of the ‘ūd.

7. Makers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHRISTIAN POCHÉ

‘Ūd

1. The term ‘ūd.

Literally, ‘ūd means ‘twig’, ‘flexible rod’ or ‘aromatic stick’, and by inference ‘piece of wood’. In Ibn Khaldūn (14th century), ‘ūd denoted the plectrum of the lute called barbāt. The etymology of the word has occasioned numerous commentaries, among them Farmer’s thesis that the Arabs adopted the term to differentiate the instrument, with its wooden soundtable, from the similar Persian barbat, whose belly is covered with skin. But this can no longer be defended. The choice of the term ‘ūd depends on a discursive form of Arab thought which required some other word to define the barbāt before the ‘ūd (the same applies to all the instruments of the emergent Islamic world): in this system of ideas, one term refers back to another or is glossed by yet another, leading to a multiplicity of terms. As the sanj is described as a wanj, the būq as a qarn, the duff as a tār, the ‘ūd becomes a synonym of the barbāt. The skin–wood difference was not taken into account. This play of reference is clearly stated by the 10th-century Andalusian writer, Ibn ‘Abd al-Rabbīh: ‘the ‘ūd is the barbāt’. Other writers, such as Ibn Sīnā and Ibn Khaldūn, included the ‘ūd under the heading of ‘barbāt’ when speaking of its characteristics. In the 10th century commentaries on pre-Islamic poetry by al-Anbārī (d 916) give the ‘ūd two semantic meanings: barbat and mizhar (Lyall: The Mufaddaliyāt, Oxford, 1921, p.812); mizhar was to become a poetic substitute for the ‘ūd. 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, where kinnor (lyre) is translated as ‘ūd (lute).

‘Ūd

2. Early history.

The transfer of terms for lyre and lute appears more subtly in the myth of the invention of the ‘ūd which has been handed down in two variants from the 9th and 10th centuries, the first being Iraqi (Robson, 1938) and the second Iranian (Mas‘ūdī, 1874). These say that the ‘ūd was invented by Lamak, a direct descendant of Cain; on the death of Lamak’s son, he hung his remains in a tree, and the desiccated skeleton suggested the form of the ‘ūd (a contradiction between archaeological research and mythological tradition; the former assumes a process of evolution from lyre to lute, confirmed by organology). The myth attributes the invention of the mi‘zaf (lyre) to Lamak’s daughter.

Just as the ‘ūd becomes the quintessence of earlier chordophones, it also constitutes their functional synthesis. In the 9th century Māwardī, the jurist of Baghdad, extolled its use in treating illness, a principle allowed and defended in Arab Spain by the 11th-century theologian Ibn Hazm. The symbolism lived on until the 19th century: ‘the ‘ūd invigorates the body. It places the temperament in equilibrium. It is a remedy … It calms and revives hearts’ (Muhammad Shihāb al-Dīn, Safīnat al-mulk, Cairo, 1892, p.466). There is also evidence that it was played on the battlefield (M. Salvat: ‘Un traité de musique du XIIIème siècle, le De Musica de Barthelemi-l’Anglais’, Actes du colloque musique: Littérature et société au moyen âge, Paris, 1980, p.357). In any case it was predominantly in secular usage that the ‘ūd made its mark, as the only kind of accompaniment to a form of responsorial song known as sawt, according to written tradition (the Kitāb al-Aghānī of al-Isfāhānī) and oral tradition (Tunisia and the Arabian Gulf).

The emergence of the ‘ūd on the stage of history is an equally complex matter. Two authors of the end of the 14th century (Abū al-Fidā, or Abulfedae, and Abū al-Walīd ibn Shihnāh) place it in the reign of the Sassanid King Shapūr I (241–72). Ibn Shihnāh added that the development of the ‘ūd was linked to the spread of Manicheism, and its invention to Manes himself, a plausible theory because the disciples of Manes encouraged musical accompaniments to their religious offices. Reaching China, their apostolate left traces of relations between West and East, seen in a short-necked lute similar to the ‘ūd (Grünwedel, 1912). But the movement’s centre was in southern Iraq, whence the ‘ūd was to spread towards the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century. However, the texts mentioning the introduction to Mecca of the short-necked lute as the ‘ūd were all written in the 9th and 10th centuries. The ‘ūd spread to the West by way of Andalusia.

‘Ūd

3. Description.

The ‘ūd consists of a large soundbox connected to a short neck, features that give it its letters patent of nobility and distinguish it from the long-necked lute family (tanbūr, saz, bağlama, setār etc). The body has evolved considerably from the original pear shape (which is perpetuated in our own time by the qanbūs, taking on a swelling, rounded form). A spherical shape may even have been envisaged: al-Kindī (9th century) described the body of the lute as a ball divided in two, but a century later the Ikhwān al-Safā’ encyclopedia (see Shiloah, 1978) suggested harmonious proportions: ‘The length must be one and a half times the width; the depth, half the width; the neck, one quarter of the length’ (p.203). If the neck measured only 20 cm (its approximate length today), the total length would be 80 cm, with or without the pegbox, making it much the same size as very large contemporary models. Another tradition required the length of the vibrating string from nut to bridge, now about 60 cm, to be equal to the body length, which would leave only 15 cm for the length of the neck (Mīkhā’īl Allāhwayrdī: Falsafat al-mūsīqā al-sharqiyya [The philosophy of oriental music], Damascus, 1948, p.381).

The body is made from lightweight wood. It consists of a series of 16 to 21 ribs, mentioned as early as the 10th century by the name of alwāh (‘boards’) and now called dulū‘ (‘sides’). In the 19th century the body was called qas‘a (‘receptacle’, ‘bowl’), and by the classical authors jism (‘body’). It consists of a strongly rounded back (zahr) and a flat front surface (batn: ‘belly’; sadr: ‘chest’, or wajh: ‘face’) made of lightweight wood, which must ‘reverberate if it is struck’ (Ikhwān al-Safā’). This, the soundboard, is pierced by one quite large soundhole, or (earlier) two small ones; sometimes there are three round or oval soundholes (a design inspired by the lotus flower in Morocco). The holes may be plain or richly ornamented. They are called shamsiyya (‘little sun’), qamarāt (‘moons’) or ‘uyūn (‘eyes’). The bridge, on the lower part of the belly, is known in classical writings as musht (‘comb’) and as faras (‘horse’) or marbat (‘fastening place’) today. It bears the strings and stands about 10 cm from the lower edge, which is called ka‘b (‘heel’). (In a recent innovation by Munīr Bashīr, of Iraq, the 11th, low string is not on the traditional bridge but on the lower edge of the soundbox; see fig.2.) The raqma (‘membrane’), a piece of fish-skin or leather, or occasionally of shell, between the bridge and the soundhole, protects the belly from the strokes of the plectrum. This section may take all kinds of extravagant shapes; a Tunisian example is in the form of a parallelogram. The raqma tends to be absent from the modern Iraqi ‘ūd.

The neck, joined to the body, is described as ‘unq (‘neck’) in classical writings and the raqba (‘neck’) or zand (‘wrist’) today. It extends the upper part of the instrument by some 20 cm and is inserted into the soundbox up to the soundhole. This length, which has been much discussed, is important in the instrument’s construction, determining the number and location of the intervals and thus affecting the modes. In early 19th-century Egypt, Villoteau gave the measurement as 22·4 cm; a century later, also in Egypt, Kāmil al-Khulā‘ī gave it as 19·5 cm. In contemporary Egypt, the length of the neck may vary between 18 and 20·5 cm. It is standardized as 20 cm in Syria, but a length of 24·5 cm may be found on Moroccan models, the ‘ūd ‘arbī (Arab ‘ūd). If the ‘ūd ‘arbī is the descendant of an archaic model of Andalusian provenance, the upper part of the instrument may have become shorter. The neck rarely has frets (dasātīn), but some are found on the Tunisian lute of Khumayyis Tarnān (1894–1964). Both sides of the neck are inlaid with marquetry to facilitate the learning of the instrument, so providing visual references for the placing of the hand. There is a nut of ivory or bone, called anf (‘nose’) or ‘ataba (‘threshold’), at the upper end of the neck before it bends sharply back to become the pegbox. The tuning-pegs are screwed to the pegbox; they are called mafātīh (‘keys’) or more commonly malāwī (‘folds’, ‘whorls’). The vibrating length of the strings ranges from 60 to 67 cm, according to the model (see Fu’ād Mahfūz, 1960, p.105), but lengths as small as 52 cm have been noted.

The quality of material used in the making of the ‘ūd is extremely varied; the more the diversity, the better it sounds. This explains the elaborate attention paid to decorative inlay work and the assembling of an impressive number of pieces of wood. The Baghdad lute maker Hannā Hajjī al-‘Awwād (1862–1942) used 18,325 pieces to make a single ‘ūd (see ‘Alī Mahfūz, 1975, p.328).

Classical lexicographers regarded the wood of the wa’s, which cannot be identified, as best for the material of the ‘ūd. All kinds of wood have been used, some chosen for their aromatic quality (like sandalwood). Some texts recommend the use of a single type (Ibn Tahhān, 14th century; see Farmer, 1931/R, ii, 94); woods mentioned include walnut, larch, beech, maple, cypress, pistachio, oak, mahogany, cedar and pine for the belly, and ebony for the fingerboard. There is a growing tendency to add inlay work to the ‘ūd, whose weight may exceed 800 grams in Arabian lutes but is less in Turkish ones (which are 6 to 8 cm smaller than their Arabian counterparts, and more like the Maghribi ‘ūd of the ‘arbī type).

‘Ūd

4. Models of the ‘ūd.

(i) Two-string ‘ūd.

The thesis of its existence has been upheld by musicologists from Europe (Land, 1883) and Iran (Barkechli, 1960); it envisages the archaic ‘ūd as a counterpart of the tanbūr, having two strings like that instrument. The argument rests on the names of the strings, two of which are Iranian terms (bamm and zīr) and two others of Arab origin (mathna and mathlath). There is no circumstantial documentary evidence to support this hypothesis.

(ii) Four-course ‘ūd.

The Arabian ‘ūd qadīm (ancient lute), in particular, invited cosmological speculation, linking the strings with the humours, the temperature, the elements, the seasons, the cardinal points, the zodiac and the stars. The strings may be tuned bass to treble or treble to bass. Bass to treble tuning is represented by al-Kindī (9th century), who advocated tuning the lowest course (bamm or first string) to the lowest singable pitch. Placing the ring finger on a mathematically determined length of this string, one moves on to deduce the pitch of the third open course (mathna), then that of the second (mathlath) and finally the fourth (zīr). (This system is also applied to the five-course ‘ūd and is still used as a tuning method, following the sequence 1–4–2–3–5 or 1–4–2–5–3.) Adherents of the opposite school (Ikhwān al-Safā’) tune from treble to bass. The intention, inherited in part by the Turkish ‘ūd, entails pulling hard on the zīr (high) string, so that as it approaches breaking-point it gives a clear sound. One then moves on to determine the pitch of the second course (mathna), the third (mathlath) and finally the fourth (bamm). These two schools did not remain entirely separate. But whichever procedure is used, both end up with tuning by successive 4ths, each course being tuned a 4th above the lower course preceding it. Musicologists, Eastern as well as Western, who try to interpret the pitch of these notes in European terms end up with different results.

Although the four-course ‘ūd survives in Morocco, as the ‘ūd ‘arbī, the tuning does not conform to the pitches inferred from classical treatises: a conflict between oral and written traditions. The Moroccan method seems to be the product of a previous system, the ‘ūd ramāl, which also comprised a sequence of 4ths: ramāl, hsīn, māya, rāghūl. This ‘ūd, like its Tunisian counterpart, may be variously tuned: a feature of these tunings is that they juxtapose the traditional 4ths with the octave and sometimes the 5th and 6th (D–d–G–c). The strings of the ‘ūd ‘arbī are named dhīl, ramāl, māya, hsīn; this terminology by no means refers to a fixed pitch standard such as academic and standardized tuition methods call for.

At the time of al-Kindī, two of the courses were made of gut and two of silk. In the 10th century silk became predominant and some texts give the composition of the twisted threads: bamm = 64 threads, mathlath = 48, mathna = 36, zīr = 27.

Another characteristic of the four-course ‘ūd is that it is bichordal, having double courses. 13th-century iconography shows that it was already usual to pair the strings at that time, probably to increase sonority but also to allow the development of a more virtuoso type of performance.

(iii) Five-course ‘ūd.

The addition in Andalusia of a fifth course has been attributed to Ziryāb (8th–9th century), although in theoretical writings it appeared in Iraq with al-Kindī. (The addition of this extra course has a parallel in China.) With Ziryāb the fifth course, known as awsat (‘intermediary’), a term perpetuated in the ‘ūd of Sana‘a called qanbūs, is placed between the second (mathna) and third (mathlath) courses. With al-Kindī and his successors, it was to reach the end of the instrument and become the string called hadd (‘high’) or the second zīr. As the ancient ‘ūd did not have a two-octave compass, the appearance of the fifth string corresponded to the demands of a new system. The four-course ‘ūd had no need to run right through the octave. Its repertory was performed on a tetrachord or pentachord, transposable an octave higher. With the five-course model, the heptatonic system imposed complete series of octaves. The new lute was called ‘ūd kāmil (‘perfect ‘ūd’).

The five-course ‘ūd (fig.1) is the most common and most popular model among performers. It has also been called the ‘ūd misrī (Egyptian) because of the finely constructed instruments produced by the lute makers of Egypt, who export them as far as Zanzibar. The people of North Africa have added the dialectal name of m’sharqī or mashriqī (‘of the east’). The method of tuning it, extremely flexible in the 19th century, is now becoming stabilized. These modifications are due partly to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, which has caused a rupture between Turkish and Arab cultures, and partly to the proliferation of teaching methods endeavouring to impose a single type of tuning, running from low to high: yakā = G; ‘ushayrān = A; dūkā = d; nawā = g; kardān = c'. However, there are variants reintroducing tuning by 4ths. Thus what is described as ‘Aleppo tuning’ consists of: qarār būsalīk = E; ‘ushayrān = A; dūkā = d; nawā = g; kardān = c'. This latter structure is used in Turkey and Iraq. To answer the practical requirements of present-day notation, a treble clef followed by the figure 8 is used. This procedure has been much criticized by those in favour of using the bass clef (see al-Hilū, 1975, p.199). The tuning of the Turkish lute faithfully reflects the Arab type but in reverse, reading in descending order: gerdâniye = g'; nevâ = d'; dügâh = a; aşîrân = e; kaba dügâh = d (this last, more mobile pitch may equally settle upon G: see Sözer, 1964, p.434). This outdated tuning represents the ‘old school’ (eski akort), and has now been replaced by an ascending tuning – the ‘new school’ (yeni akort): A–B–e–a–d'–g'. Though it is now considered incorrect in the Syro-Egyptian area, and representative of the old Ottoman school, a tuning method in ascending order survives in Iraq. It consists of: yakā = d; ‘ushayrān = e; dūkā = a; nawā = d'; kardān = g' (see Bashir, 1961, p.21). The compass of the bichordal five-course ‘ūd is just over two octaves; in Turkey, it is three octaves with the addition of a low course. Arabian instruments can achieve this by the addition of a sixth course.

(iv) Six-course ‘ūd.

Two kinds of six-course ‘ūd exist: one has six pairs of strings, the other five pairs with an additional low string. The first was found by Jules Rouanet in North Africa towards the end of the last century; tuned inclusively (see Rouanet, 1922), it has since disappeared except in Libya, where it is still made but with different tuning. A similar instrument, found in Syria, is tuned C–E–A–d–g–c'. The instrument with five double strings and a single low one, however, is becoming increasingly usual from Istanbul to Baghdad. It has become common to place the additional string after the highest (or chanterelle). Its pitch is at the choice of the player; no rule is laid down. The presence of the extra string endows the instrument with a wider range and increased ease of playing, allowing the performer to run effortlessly through three octaves. The sixth course is also coming to be used as an intermittent drone, a new phenomenon.

(v) Seven-course ‘ūd.

Seven-course models, based on a complex system of tuning, were found in Egypt and Lebanon in the 19th century but have not been seen since 1900. There is one exception: the Tunisian, Fawzī Sāyib, is a living master of the seven-course instrument in the six pairs and one low arrangement. A feature of this ‘ūd (as described by Villoteau, 1809) was that it reversed the arrangement of strings, placing first the high and then the low strings on the neck from left to right. According to Mīkhā’īl Mushāqa (1800–88), only four of the seven courses were played, the lowest course (jahārkā) and the two highest (būsalīk and nihuft) being unused in performance (see Smith, 1849, p.209).

‘Ūd

5. Performance, aesthetics and repertory.

The strings of the contemporary ‘ūd are twisted, or spirally reinforced. They are plucked with a plectrum (rīsha, ‘quill’) made of an eagle’s feather and held between thumb and index finger; a shell or plastic plectrum may be used instead. The technique calls for suppleness of the wrist as the plectrum strikes the strings in a simple fall, or combines risings and fallings. Certain teachers, such as Tawfīq al-Sabbāgh, claim that a technique similar to the mandolin tremolo was once used. This may have disappeared, but another technique spread rapidly: the basm (‘imprint’), which was invented by the Egyptian Ahmad al-Laythī (1816–1913). It consists of substituting for the plectrum touches of the fingers of the left hand, plucking the strings, and introduces light and shade into the execution. Munīr Bashīr (Iraq) extended the technique by using the right hand too; he has made it one of the canons of present-day aesthetics of the ‘ūd.

There are two schools or conceptions of performance. The first, or ‘Ottoman’, takes as its principle the ornamentation of the sound, produced by delicate glissandos of the fingers and slight vibratos. The touch of the plectrum on the string sets off a vibration which, in turn, gives rise to an effect of resonance, volume and controlled intensity. The plectrum does not interfere with the resulting sound. This produces an intimate style of playing, making the interiorized ‘ūd a path to meditation. This approach was first promoted in Istanbul by Ali Rifat Çağatay (1867–1935) and Nevres Bey (1873–1937), then by Refik Tal’at Alpman (1894–1947) and Cinuçen Tanrikorur (b 1938). It spread to Aleppo (Nash’at Bey, d c1930, and ‘Abd al-Rahmān Jabaqjī, b 1931), then was developed in Baghdad by salmān Shukur (b 1921), jamīl Bashīr (1921–77) and munīr Bashīr (1930–1997; for information on the Baghdad ‘ūd school see Iraq, §I, 5).

The second aesthetic approach is Egyptian. The volume is amplified by firm strokes of the plectrum, which makes the strings resonate. This calls for virtuosity in performance, which is conceived of as an exteriorizing factor. The finest proponents of this school have been Safar ‘Alī (1884–1962), Muhammad al-Qasabjī (1898–1966) and farīd Al-Atrash (1915–74), who, despite his melodramatic style, breathed a new vitality into the instrument. A synthesis of these two styles is taking place in Somalia, where the manner of performance combines extensive glissandos with the sonorous impact of the plectrum; the outstanding proponents of this style are Abdullahi Qarshe and ‘Umar Dhule.

After 1971, when Munīr Bashīr gave one of the first solo recitals in Geneva, an independent instrumental repertory for the ‘ūd has developed, allowing it to be played as a solo instrument rather than as accompaniment or as part of an ensemble. The repertory concentrates on the form of improvisation known as taqsīm by both the Arabs and the Turks (taksim). In Bashīr’s performances, however, this improvisation assumed a new character and underwent considerable development. Bashīr constructed a concert programme by linking several short taqsīm together and then interpolating metric pieces in an arrangement that he followed throughout his career, making no further modifications to their order of appearance. Under his plectrum the taqsīm became a long piece alternating between improvised and metric passages. Unconsciously, and without ever intending a reference to Iranian music, Bashīr provided Arab music with the foundations of a new system parallel to and comparable with the Persian dastgāh. While the Turkish performer Cinuçen Tanrikorur is alone in retaining the singing voice in ‘ūd concerts, in conformity with Turkish tradition, in his case it plays an important part and indeed is on a par with the ‘ūd itself, requiring both vocal and instrumental qualities of performance in the interpreter. Earlier, Udi Hrant (Hrant Kenkulian, 1901–78), a Turk of Armenian origin, had brought the technique of ‘ūd playing with sung accompaniment to a high degree of perfection.

As a general rule interpreters have made the Arabic taqsīm and its Turkish equivalent, the taksim, the basis of the ‘ūd repertory. The form of improvisation known as taqsīm allows interpreters to display their musical knowledge; they are judged by their capacity for modulations. However, other compositions of various kinds are included in the repertory: Ottoman pieces of the 19th and 20th centuries (semai, pechrev, saz semaisi, longa), which also occur in Arab music, adding the tahmīla prelude. Songs transposed for instrumental performance have also been taken into the repertory, together with many original compositions (ma‘zūfa) with evocative and poetic titles, sometimes in the nature of descriptive music or fantasy. The predecessor of this genre may be found in three Kapris (caprices) written between 1923 and 1924 by the Turkish composer Muhiddin Targan. These virtuoso pieces were first printed in Rahmi Kalaycioglu’s collection Türk musikisi bestekârli külliyati (Istanbul, 1977) and new techniques, with arpeggios, chords and features often borrowed from Western music. Finally, the ‘ūd has featured in duos with other instruments: ‘ūd and guitar, ‘ūd and saxophone, ‘ūd and accordion, ‘ūd and Indian sitār, ‘ūd and qānūn, ‘ūd and piano. Rabbīh Abū Khalīl, a Lebanese living in Germany, has introduced the ‘ūd into jazz. Mention should also be made of recitals for two ‘ūd; here the Lebanese duo of Marcel Khalifé (b 1950) and Charbel Rouhana (b 1965) has led the way, perfecting a type of four-movement improvisation called Jadal, of symphonic dimensions. Concertos for ‘ūd and orchestra have also been written by Egyptian composers: the Kunshirtū al‘ūd wa-al-urkistra fī maqām hijāz kar kurd [concerto for ‘ūd and orchestra in the hijāz kar kurd mode] of 1983–4, by ‘Attiyya Sharāra (b 1923), and Husayn al-Masrī’s L’oiseau calife concerto pour oud (1994).

None of these developments could have arisen without a certain amount of backing in the West, where this type of performance originated. It is largely due to Bashīr that the relationship between the ‘ūd and audiences has been changed. An ‘ūd recital is now given in complete silence, without any of the old tarab demonstrations among the audience in the form of all kinds of emotional displays, loud cries or physio-psychological reactions. Such reactions were generally set off by the conclusion of the improvised passage (qafla) and the return to the original or secondary mode (finalis) the performance style of the Syrian lutenist Qadrī Dallāl (b 1946) shows an obvious reluctance to resort to the concluding passage, with a view to restraining and diverting audience reaction.

‘Ūd

6. Study of the ‘ūd.

With the appearance of new problems of theory, such as the 19th-century division of the octave into 24 quarter-tones, the ‘ūd has entered a new phase. In the past it was not an ideal instrument for theoretical research, unlike the tanbūr: ‘The ‘ūd allows of theoretical demonstrations, but in an imperfect manner’ (see Al-Farābī in d’Erlanger, 1930–59, i, 305). However, as the tanbūr fell into disuse among Arabs during the 19th century, the ‘ūd was substituted for theoretical reference (see Ahmad Amīn al-Dīk, 1926). The present-day tendency towards a standardized teaching method based on a Western approach tries first to resolve the problems created by the use of microintervals not provided for in Western treatises, and second to produce teaching manuals adapted to the instrument’s evolution. The earliest such course to be published, in 1903, was by the Egyptian Muhammad Dhākir Bey (1836–1906): Tuhfat al-maw‘ūd bi ta‘līm al-‘ūd (‘The promise of the treasure, or the teaching of the ‘ūd’). Since then, various manuals have tried to ‘democratize’ the instrument, placing it within everyone’s reach and putting forward teaching rules that claim to be universal. They offer instruction in solfeggio and Western theory and give exercises on occidental or oriental modes. They all use Western notation, with modifications of key signature, and place before the student a large repertory, mostly of the 19th and 20th centuries. Notable among proponents of this method of teaching was Muhiddin Targan (1892–1967). This trend has been opposed, in the name of the elementary aesthetic rules of traditional Arab music (i.e. creative liberty and the development of the modal sense; Y. Kojaman, The Contemporary Art Music of Iraq (London, 1978), 102ff). But certain masters of the ‘ūd owe something to these newer manuals. Two are outstanding for their instructional value, those by Fu’ād Mahfūz of Damascus (1960), and Mutlu Torun of Istanbul (1993). The manual by ‘Abd al-Rahmān Jabaqjī of Aleppo (1982) was the first accompanied by audio-cassettes.

‘Ūd

7. Makers.

In the past little attention was paid to the field of string instrument making and instrument makers pursued their profession out of the public eye. A greater awareness of their work dates from the second half of the 19th century, in Istanbul, when makers’ names became known for the first time. One of them was Manol (1845–1915), an instrument maker of Greek origin from Istanbul, renowned for the exceptional quality of his instruments, which are highly prized in Turkey. The Syrian Nahhāt dynasty, originally from Greece, settled in Damascus at the end of the 19th century, and signed their instruments with the name of Ikhwān Nahhāt (the Nahhāt brothers). The first generation was active in the 1920s and consisted of four brothers, Hannā, Antūn, Rūfān and ‘Abduh Nahhāt; the second generation comprised Hannā’s two sons Tawfīq and Jurjī, and the dynasty came to an end with Tawfīq’s death in 1946. The Nahhāt family, who worked on a small scale as craftsmen, not on the industrial scale usual today, transformed the ‘ūd by giving it its pear shape (‘ūd ijjās, or in dialect ‘ūd njās), and produced extraordinary instruments through their research into the sonority of wood. Specimens of the ‘ūd signed by the Nahhāt brothers are sought after both by the greatest players, for the exceptional sonority which has been the reason for their success, and by antiquarians and collectors; these models of the ‘ūd are the equivalent to the perfection of Stradivarius violins in the Western world.

See also Syria, §4 and Arab music, §I, 7(i).

‘Ūd

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A General. B Myth of the invention of the ‘ūd. C Interchange with China: Barbāt and ‘ūd. D Theory and philosophy. E Two-string. F Four-course. G Five-course. H Six-course. I Seven-course. J Methods

a. general

EI (H.G. Farmer); MGG1, ‘Laute’ (H. Hickman)

R. d’Erlanger: La musique arabe (Paris, 1930–59), i, 165–215; ii, 234ff; iii, 430ff; iv, 420ff

H.G. Farmer: Studies in Oriental Musical Instruments, i (London, 1931/R), ii (Glasgow, 1939/R)

V. Sözer: Müsik ve müzisyenler ansiklopedisi (Istanbul, 1964)

H. Usbeck: ‘Türklerde musik aletler’, Musiki mecmuasi (Istanbul, 1970), no.259, 27–30

A. al-Hifnī: ‘Ilm āl-ālāt al-mūsīqīyya’[Understanding musical instruments] (Cairo, 1971), 73ff

S. al-Hilū: Tārīkh al-mūsīqā al-Sharqiyya[History of oriental music] (Beirut, 1975), 91ff, 197ff

H. ‘Alī Mahfūz: Qāmūs al-mūsīqā al-‘Arabiyya [Dictionary of Arab music] (Baghdad, 1975)

S.A. Rashīd: Al-ālāt al-mūsiqīyya fī al-‘usūr al-Islāmiyya [Musical instruments of Islam] (Baghdad, 1975), 36–125

Y. Öztuna: Türk musikisi ansiklopedisi (Istanbul, 1976)

H.H. Touma: La musique arabe (Paris, 1977)

H. Turnbull: ‘The Genesis of Carvel-Built Lutes’, Musica asiatica, i (1977), 75–84

S.M. Hamīdī: Tārīkh ālat al-‘ūd wa sinā‘atuhu [History and structure of the ‘ūd] (Cairo, 1978)

A. Shiloah: The Epistle on Music of the Ikhwān al-Safā (Tel-Aviv, 1978)

J.C. Chabrier: ‘Evolution du luth ‘ūd et périodisation des structures musicales arabo-islamiques’, Proceedings of the Ninth Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, ed. R. Peters (Leiden, 1981), 31–47

L. Ibsen al Faruqi: An Annotated Glossary of Arabic Musical Terms (Westport, CT, 1981)

A.I. Muhammad: Sinā‘a ālat al-‘ūd fī Baghdād [Manufacture of the ‘ūd instrument in Baghdad] (Baghdad, 1986)

R. Mazuela Coll: ‘El laud, sultan de los instrumentos musicales’, Boletín de la Asociacion Española de Orientalistas, xxiii (1987), 135–51

F. Zghonda: Les instruments de musique en Tunisie (Tunis, 1992)

N. Allao and A.M. Bianquis: ‘Luth, luthistes et luthiers’, Damas miroir brisé d’un orient arabe (Paris, 1993), 219–25

J.C. Chabrier: ‘Analyse modale du mode/maqam “Iraquien” lami tel qu’il est joué en la/A par J. Bachir et son luth-‘ud: audition et analyse comparative’, Ethnomusicologia II [Siena], xlv (1993), 111–17

E. Neubauer: ‘Der Bau der Laute und ihre Besaitung nach arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen des 9. bis. 15. Jahrhunderts’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften, viii (1993), 279–378

A. Say: The Music Makers in Turkey (Ankara, c1995)

b. myth of the invention of the ‘ūd

Mas’ūdī: Les prairies d’or (Paris, 1874), viii, 88ff

H.G. Farmer: ‘Ibn Khurdadhbih on Musical Instruments’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1928), 509

J. Robson: ‘The Kitāb al-malāhī of Abū Tālib al-Mufaddal ibn Salāma’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1938), 231

T. Grame: ‘The Symbolism of the ‘ūd’, AsM, iii (1972), 25–34

M. Brandily: Instruments de musique et musiciens instrumentistes chez les Teda du Tibesti (Tervuren, 1974), 85ff

A. Shiloah: ‘The ‘ūd and the Origin of Music’, Memoria D.H. Banath dedicata: studia orientalia (Jerusalem, 1979), 395–407

C. Poché: ‘David et l’ambiguité du mizmār’, World of Music, xxv/2 (Berlin, 1983), 58–73

c. interchange with china: barbāt and ‘ūd

K. Kessler: Mani (Berlin, 1889), 212, 369ff

A. Grünwedel: Altbuddistische Kultastätten in Chinesisch: Turkistan (Berlin, 1912)

H.G. Farmer: ‘Reciprocal Influences in Music ’twixt the Far and Middle East’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1934), 327

S. Kishibe: ‘The Origin of the p’i-p’a’, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, xix (1940), 261–98

L. Picken: ‘The Origin of the Short Lute’, GSJ, viii (1955), 32–42

H.C. Puech: ‘Musique et hymnologie manichéennes’, Encyclopédie des musiques sacrées (Paris, 1968), i, 354–86

d. theory and philosophy

H.G. Farmer: The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources (London, 1926)

A. Chottin: ‘Le luth et les harmonies de la nature’, ReM (1940), no.197, 197–203

M. al-‘Aqīlī: Al-samā’ ‘ind al-‘Arab [Music among the Arabs] (Damascus, 1966-79), iv, 17ff

E.R. Perkuhn: Die Theorien zum arabischen Einfluss auf die europäische Musik des Mittelalters (Walldorf-Hessen, 1976), 77ff

e. two-string

J.P.N. Land: ‘Recherches sur l’histoire de la gamme arabe’, Bulletin du sixième congrès international des orientalistes: Leiden 1883 (Leiden, 1883), ii, 37–99

H.G. Farmer: Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence (London, 1930/R), 240ff

M. Barkechli: ‘La musique iranienne’, in Roland-Manuel: Histoire de la musique, i (Paris, 1960), 453–525, esp. 466

f. four-course

H.G. Farmer: ‘An Old Moorish Lute Tutor’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1931), 349–66; (1932), 99–109, 379–89, 897–904; pubd separately (Glasgow, 1933)

A. Chottin: Tableau de la musique marocaine (Paris, 1938)

H.G. Farmer: ‘The Song Captions in the Kitāb al-aghānī al-kabīr’, Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental Society, xv (1953–4), 1–9

H.G. Farmer: The Science of Music in the Mafātīh al-‘ulūm (Glasgow, 1959)

S. al-Mahdi: La musique arabe (Paris, 1972)

Y. Shawqī: Risāla ibn al-Munajjim fī al-mūsīqā [The epistle of Ibn al-Munajjim on music] (Cairo, 1976)

S. al-Sharqī: Adwā’ ‘alā al-mūsīqā al-maghribiyya [Aspects of Moroccan music] (Mohammadia, 1977)

M. Guettat: La musique classique du Maghreb (Paris, 1980)

g. five-course

R.G. Kiesewetter: Die Musik der Araber (Leipzig, 1842/R1968)

K. al-Khulā‘ī: Kitāb al-mūsīqā al-sharqī [Book of oriental music] (Cairo, 1904), 48ff

A. al-Dīk: Qānūn atwāli al-awtār wa ratbīqihi ‘ala al‘ūd [Application to the ‘ūd of the rule of string division] (Cairo, 1926)

R. Lachmann: Musik des Orients (Breslau, 1929)

A. Berner: Studien zur arabischen Musik (Leipzig, 1937)

A. Alvarez Bulos: Handbook of Arabic Music (Beirut, 1971)

h. six-course

J. Rouanet: ‘Les liens de la musique Maghrebine avec le passé’, EMDC, I/v (1922), 2914–37, esp. 2927

i. seven-course

G.A. Villoteau: ‘Description historique, technique et littéraire des instrumens de musique des orientaux’, Description de l’Egypte: Etat moderne, i, ed. E.F. Jomard (Paris, 1809), 846–1016; pubd separately (Paris, 1812)

E.W. Lane: Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (London, 1836)

H. Horeau: Panorama d’Egypte et de Nubie (Paris, 1841)

E. Smith: ‘A Treatise on Arab Music, Chiefly from a Work by Mikhâil Meshâkah of Damascus’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, i (1849), 173–217

F.J. Fétis: Histoire générale de la musique, ii (Paris, 1869), 107ff

j. methods

M. Dhākir Bey: Tuhfat al-maw‘ūd bi ta‘līm al-‘ūd [The promise of treasure, or the teaching of the ‘ūd] (Cairo,1903)

A. Salâhi: Hocasiz ûd öğrenme usulü [The basis of the ‘ūd without a teacher] (Istanbul, 1910)

F. Kopuz: Nazarî ve amelî üd dersleri [Theory and practice of the ‘ūd] (Istanbul, 1920)

A. Salâhi: Ilâveli ûd muallimi [Adjunct to the study of the ‘ūd] (Istanbul, 1924)

S. ‘Alī and ‘Abd al-Mun‘im ‘Arafa: Kitāb dirāsat al-‘ūd [Book of ‘ūd studies] (Cairo, 1945, 8/1995)

T. al-Sabbāgh: Al-dalīl al-mūsīqī al-‘āmm [Complete guide to music] (Aleppo, 1950)

S. Erten: Ud metodu (Istanbul, 1956)

G. Farah: Al-‘ūd (Beirut, 1956/R1986 as Tamārīn mūsīqiyya li-ālat al-‘ūd) [‘Ūd exercises]

F. Mahfūz: Ta‘līm al-‘Ūd [‘Ūd method] (Damascus, 1960)

J. Bashīr: Al-‘ūd wa tarīqat tadrīsihi [The ‘ūd and how to study it] (Baghdad, 1961/R)

S. al-Hilū: Dirāsat al-‘ūd wa ta‘līm al-nūta [Study of the ‘ūd and rudiments] (Beirut, 1962)

Z. Yūsuf: Tamrīn lil darb ‘alā al-‘ūd [‘Ūd exercises] (Baghdad, 1962)

L. Fathallāh and M. Kāmil: Al-manhaj al-hadīth fī dirāsat al-‘ūd [The modern way to study the ‘ūd] (Cairo, 1974)

A.S. Shawqī: Al-tarīqa al-hadītha fī ta‘līm al-‘ūd [Modern method of ‘ūd instruction] (Casablanca, c1975)

K. Şençalar: Ud öğrenme metodu [Method of ‘ūd instruction] (Istanbul, 1976/R)

D. Fakhūry: Ta‘līm al-‘ūd dūna mu‘allim [‘Ūd method without a teacher] (Beirut, c1978)

‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Jabaqjī: Ta‘līm al-‘ūd [‘ūd method] (Aleppo, 1982)

M. Khalifé: Ta‘līm al-‘ūd [‘Ūd instruction] (Beirut, 1983)

‘Abd al-Hamīd Mash‘al: Dirāsat al-‘ūd bi-al-tarīqa al-‘ilmiyya [Study of the ‘ūd in a scientific way] (al-Jazair, c1985)

O. Akdogu: Ud metodu [‘Ūd method] (Izmir, 1987/ R)

M. Torun: Ud metodu [‘Ūd method] (Istanbul, 1993)

Dar al-Ubira [Cairo Opera House]: Mudāwanāt li-ālat al-‘ūd [Notations for the ‘ūd] (Cairo, 1993) [staff notation]

I. Labīb and A. Jamīl: al-Tadrībāt al-asāsiyya li-ālat al-‘ūd [Fundamental exercises for the ‘ūd] (Cairo, 1993) [staff notation]

B. Turan: Ud metodu [‘Ūd method] (Izmir, 1993)

C. Rouhana: al-‘Ūd (manhaj hadīth) [The ‘ūd (modern method)] (Beirut, 1995)