The roots, of the musical instrument Oud, can be found through time, 3500 years ago in Persia, where it was called Barbat (oud). This instrument was the same as the one that ancient Egyptians used in Pharaoh times. This instrument was named by the Arabs Al Oud, which means wood and specifically thin wood. Surely, its first form was not the present one. We can make this opinion if we take a look at the old Pictures-Gravures. These instruments, which were strung just like Oud and violin, were not known to Arabs, who learned them from Persian and Romans after the birth of Islam. The first Arabian musician who started playing oud was Eben Sareeg and after him, everyone started using it. The most popular musicians in the history of Oud are Shack Amusedly, Abraham Almighty, and Zaryab. Oud is the king of the musical instruments for Arabs. We must mention here that in the past, an Arabian composer was writing a song only based on oud. Oud is a totally solo instrument for Taqasim (extemporizations) and accompanied by song. Technical features of oud are that the soundbox has the shape of a pear, short, and sloppy elbow. The shape and the dimensions are different from place to place, like in Egypt and Syria and to the other Arabian states. It has a bigger depth shape to Turkey and a lesser in Iraq or holes at the flap are open without rosettes. In the past, the oud had two strings, then it had four and it ended with five and six. Lebanon musician Far hat Hasher put seven strings and this helped us to have both the low and the high levels. The strings that were used in the past were made of gut and the plectrum (key) was made of cherry tree cortex or horn of animals. Today they are replaced by plastic. Today Oud is popular to almost all over the world. Since the 9th century, the musical tradition of the Mediterranean Sea was based oud practically. At Medieval Times, the Crusaders brought this instrument from the Holy Lands to Europe, where it became the Renaissance Lute and Lute in Minor Asia, where it remains like this. The strings that were used in the past were made of gut and the plectrum was made of cherry tree cortex or horn of animals. Today they are replaced by plastic. Oud is one of the few instruments of the East and the only one for Arabs, which played and transformed the music levels, which are known as Makams. A Makam is composed out of a four-stringed "4 notes" and from a five-stringed 5 notes where they alternate from Makam to Makam. The number of Makams is extensive and different from country to country. For example, in Turkey - Egypt it differs mostly to the style and less to the musical scales. Many times the musical scales are the same but they are played with different style and it seems they change Makam, while in reality, it remains the same. I believe that the bloom of music Makam was around 1850 because at these times there was composed and played a big number of Makams. Nowadays the musicians do not compose such amounts of Makams and the basic reason for this is that a musician of 1850 had a brighter mind than from a musician nowadays. The depth of the Makam is so big that you need to live twice in order to say that you have learned or played or understood all Makams.

Nikos Dimitriadis