The Oud: An Illustrated History

“Musician Beckles Willson (Orientalism and Musical Mission) scrupulously traces the history of the oud—a short-necked, fretless stringed musical instrument—from its first written mention in ancient Persia to the present day.

An instrument long associated with bereavement (an early fable holds that a grieving father constructed it from his deceased son’s bones and sinews, “played it, wept, and sang the first lament”), ouds of the past accommodated between four and seven double courses of strings, were often custom-designed for their owners, and were crafted from wood, while modern versions can also be partly fashioned of carbon fiber and have commanded prices up to more than a half-million dollars. Through history, the instrument followed shifting fault lines between East and West: ubiquitous in many Abbasid courts, and played in particular by thousands of women at festive gatherings, the oud was brought by Arab people to southern Europe between the ninth and 13th centuries. From there, it spread northward, and eventually became the lute. In the 20th century, following the Ottoman Empire’s dissolution and the Armenian Genocide, refugees carried the instrument around the world.

Generously illustrated and embedded with QR codes that link to YouTube videos of oud players in action, this is both a rich cultural history and a thoughtful analysis of the shifting global dynamics that gave the oud its reach. Music lovers will be captivated.” Publishers' Weekly, 17 October 2022.

“Beckles Willson is equal parts musician and scholar, which positions her perfectly to tell the complex story of the oud … Beckles Willson’s comprehensive history draws upon folklore, design, and politics … In addition to tracing its movement across continents and its changing role in society, Beckles Willson explores in detail the construction, tuning, and fretting of the oud and maps its changing shape and sound up to the current moment. The book is lavishly illustrated with ancient and contemporary images that help tell the story of this fascinating instrument.” Booklist, 25 October, 2023.

“Extensively researched history with musical appeal, Rachel Beckles Willson’s illustrated book is an ode to the decorated instrument’s past …The topics covered include how the instrument was built, the materials used for its construction, the variations in the types of ouds, its changing repertoires and the lives of past and present virtuosos, such as the Iraqi musician Munir Bashir and Syrian-Egyptian film star Farid El Atrash. The text is enriched with illustrations, such as ancient Gandharan friezes, a drawing of various types of ouds by Napoleon’s team in Egypt and more generally ouds of various shapes and sizes. The Oud: An Illustrated History will appeal not only to aficionados of chordophones—instruments that use vibrating strings to make sound—but anyone with curiosity about the culture and history of the Middle East.” The National, 6 November, 2023.