A Journey with Arabic Oud

The ʿūd on 78 rpm records, from 1904 to the mid-1940s

In the box: 2 CDs and a DVD, a 64-page booklet in English, French and Arabic
Price: $35

Anthology from the archive · 2020

رحلة العود عند العرب

The ʿūd on 78 rpm records, from 1904 to the mid-1940s

AMAR’s ninth publication on classical Arab music, its third anthology and the first devoted to a single instrument: the ʿūd, the instrument most present in the musical memory of Arab modal music, embraced by most singers and the instrument of composition and theory.

Early record companies made few ʿūd recordings, because the acoustic horn could not capture its low frequencies. This set still gathers thirty-four players from the Maghreb to Iraq and the Gulf, professionals and amateurs, men and women, from 1904 to the mid-1940s: acoustic recordings on CD 1, electric recordings on CD 2.

The DVD, Albert Mansour: Master Oud Maker, directed by Fadi Yeni Turk, follows the master luthier step by step as he makes an ʿūd.

CD 1 Acoustic recordingsالتسجيلات الأكوستيكيّة 23 recordings
CD 2 Electric recordingsالتسجيلات الكهربائيّة 23 recordings 1927–1934

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ElHajj Sayyed ElSuwaisi, Abd ElAziz ElQabbani, Ali Saleh, Kadd ElRast

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Recordings

46 recordings

CD 1 · Acoustic recordings

CD 2 · Electric recordings

The voices

Ibrāhīm al-Qabbānī 1852–1927 Composer, ʿūd virtuoso and teacher, who recorded taqsīm-s only in duo or with the ensemble.

Manṣūr ‘Awaḍ 1880–1954 Founded Cairo’s first private music school in 1907 and was Gramophone’s artistic director for several years.

Dāwūd Ḥusnī The composer explored modes rarely played by the ʿūdists of his time, such as ʿirāq and jahārkāh.

Muḥammad al-Qaṣabgī 1892–1966 The “Sultan of the ʿūd” launched the renaissance of the seven-course ʿūd and took the taqsīm across three octaves.

Bahīga Ḥilmī Nothing is known of her life; her taqsīm rāst is the first recording to use a sixth treble string.

Kāmil Bey Rushdī 1879–1947 An amateur, pupil of Aḥmad al-Laythī, who spread a single taqsīm across both sides of a disc.

Iskandar Shalfūn 1881–1934 Musician, poet, critic and musicologist, founder of the magazine Rawḍat al-Balābil and author of an ʿūd method (1926). The parts of the ʿūd and their names, from Iskandar Shalfūn’s ʿūd teaching book, 1926

Al-Sharīf Muḥyiddīn Ḥaydar 1892–1967 Founder of “the School of Baghdad”, heard here in a samāʿī-type composition.

The booklet

64 pages in three languages

English, French and Arabic. With a glossary, two illustrations and the track lists of the two CDs and the DVD.

The ʿūd and the recording industryMustafa Said
The Pioneers of the Art of ʿŪd in the Arab WorldTarek Abdallah

Booklet front cover: twelve portraits of ʿūd players and musicians, in sepia — Front cover

Booklet back cover: portraits of ʿūd players and an ensemble, in blue — Back cover

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Oud recordings

Albert Mansour — DVD

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A Journey with Arabic Oud

In the box: 2 CDs and a DVD, a 64-page booklet in English, French and Arabic
Price: $35

Write to mail@amar-foundation.org or use the contact page

Supported by the Abu Dhabi Festival.

Tarek Abdallah’s two studies of the oud · Muhammad al-Qasabgi, 2 CDs · The Age of Almehs, 4 CDs

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