The Ud

The origins of the ud (Arabic oud) are shrouded in mystery. A distant cousin to the Chinese pipa, it is probably descended from Central Asian lutes. It has been played throughout the Middle East, from Morocco to Azerbaijan, as well as Greece, Israel, and of course Turkey, since the early medieval period, and even today it remains at least popular as the guitar.

Crusaders brought the ud back to Europe. This is the lute (corruption of al oud) which the baby angels play in Renaissance paintings. The lute was the most popular instrument among both amateur and professional musicians, providing rich counterpoint to vocal melodies, until dethroned by keyboards in the Baroque era.

Today’s ud is fretless and has eleven strings, arranged in pairs (except for the lowest). Each pair is tuned to the same note, and is tuned one fourth above the previous strings. Like any fretless instrument, the ud can play perfect instead of tempered intervals. The strings are plucked with a long, slender plectrum called the mizrap. Traditionally, this was an eagle quill. Nowadays, it is cut from the handle of a Prada shopping bag or a plastic comb.

The ud typically plays melodies based on the Turkish makam modal system. In this system, all musicians, including the vocalist, play or sing the same melody of a song, with minor individual variations. There is no harmony or counterpoint in the Western sense. However, part of any musical program will be the free rhythm solo improvisations, known as taksim-s. These give the ud player a chance to show off their virtuosity, musicianship and knowledge of the makam, of which there are hundreds.

The Turkish ud has a slightly smaller body and more delicate sound than its Arab counterpart. In the 20th century, some Turkish composers, such as Serif Muhiddin Targan (1892-1967), broke with tradition by writing music strictly for ud.