I have decided to chunk the different types of instrument at one entry or 2, because all these instruments were used in the different kind of middle eastern music. You can't say that Turkish music uses the Ney but arabesque no. NO ITS NOT LIKE THAT!
BASIC INFO ON ARABIC INSTRUMENTS/MUSIC
Early Arab musicians borrowed from the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Sumerians. Many of the instruments used today are direct descendents of those depicted in the wall paintings and carvings of those past civilizations. Helping to revive an interest in Greek music and literature through Arabic translations, Arab music filled the cultural void and contributed to the later European Renaissance.
Ok now we start off with the most famous musical instrument in middle eastern, the OUD!. Why is this famous? In my opinion, this instrument is like our guitar in which its easy to learn and cool to play. That's why it rose to fame just like our guitar which is one of the more popular instruments. Logic right? Now lets find more infos on the OUD.
MEANING AND USAGE OF THE WORD OUD
Literally, 'ud means 'twig', 'flexible rod' or 'aromatic stick', and by inference 'piece of wood'. From another source, the words "lute" and "oud" are both speculated to be derived from Arabic, meaning a thin piece of wood similar to the shape of a straw, referring either to the wood plectrum used traditionally for playing the lute[1], or to the thin strips of wood used for the back, or for the fact that the top was made of wood, not skin as were earlier.
HOW THE OUD WAS SPREAD AND BECAME POPULAR
The oud was most likely introduced to Western Europe by the Arabs who established the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula beginning in the year 711 AD. Tt was the royal houses of Al-Andalus that cultivated the environment which raised the level of oud playing to greater heights and boosted the popularity of the instrument. The most famous oud player of Al-Andalus was Zyriab.
HISTORY OF OUD
According to Farabi (the greatest muslim scientist and philosopher!), the oud was invented by Lamech, the sixth grandson of Adam. The legend tells that the grieving Lamech hung the body of his dead son from a tree. The first oud was inspired by the shape of his son's bleached skeleton. This instrument appears many times throughout Mesopotamian history and again in ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty onwards in long and short-neck varieties. This instrument and its close relatives have been a part of the music of each of the ancient civilizations that have existed in the Mediterranean and the Middle East regions, including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Persians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Armenians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans.
OUD AS A SACRED OBJECT/INSTRUMENT
The oud has a particularly long tradition in Iraq, where a saying goes that in its music lies the country’s soul. A ninth-century Baghdad jurist praised the healing powers of the instrument. In the 9th century, Miwardi, 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 'ud invigorates the body. It places the temperament in equilibrium. It is a remedy... It calms and revives hearts' ---> WOW!!!!
There is also evidence that it was played on the battlefield.
However, the increasing fervor of Islamic militants who consider secular music to be haraam (forbidden) forced many Oud players or teachers into hiding or exile. Different tunings are used and the Turkish-style oud has a brighter tone than its Arab counterpart.
DEFINING FEATURES
The websites below provides great detail of the features of an OUD.
http://www.oud.eclipse.co.uk/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oud
PLECTRUM (PICK)
The strings of the contemporary 'ud are twisted, or spirally reinforced. They are plucked with a plectrum (risha, '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.
he Arabs traditionally used thin piece of wood as a plectrum, later replaced by the eagle's feather by Zyriab in Spain (between 822 to 857), other sources state that he is the first one to use the wooden plectrum.
To date the Arabic players use the historic name reeshe or risha, which literally means "feather" while Turkish players refer to it as a mızrap. Currently the plastic pick is most commonly used for playing the oud being effective, affordable and convenient to get.
Like similar strummed stringed instruments, professional Oud players take the quality of their plectrums very seriously, often making their own out of other plastic objects, and taking great care to sand down any sharp edges in order to achieve the best sound possible.
Now lets take a look at OUD players.
THIS IS VERY THE NICE!
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