The Oud

The haunting sounds of the Oud dates back to 5000 years ago and once played by King David and is still being played today

Origins:  

According to El-Farabie, the Oud dates back to the days of Lamech; a sixth-generation descendant of Adam. Lamech was known as the “Father of the Oud players”.  The first appearance of the Oud was 3000 BC. The desecrated skeleton suggested the form of the Oud.  Oud is known as the first stringed instrument in history.

The oldest pictorial record of the Oud dates back to the Uruk period in Southern Mesopotamia (Iraq), over 5000 years ago on a cylinder seal acquired by Dr. Dominique Collon and the seal is currently housed at the British Museum..

As the Oud becomes the quintessence of earlier chordophones, it also constitutes their functional synthesis. In the 9th century, Miwardi, the jurist of Baghdad, extolled its use in treating illness, such as King David did through his life with his Oud.  The Oud was in the hands of Egyptians and Iraqis when the Israelites came out of Egypt. They took the Oud with them to the Holy Land. The Oud still maintains its Egyptian and Iraqi features and musical stylings. The Oud was played in sacred places such as the temples of Egypt.

The Oud is the predecessor of the Lute and Guitar:

Came to Spain first by “Zyriab” on “9th Century” at his era,  the Oud developed to take another embodiment, which is become the Lute after the musician added to the Oud the frites , since the Oud is fretless instrument, after few years of this development the Oud have been in another embodiment which it become the Guitar;’

The Oud became a Guitar

“ The term guitar is descended from the Latin word cithara, but the modern guitar itself is generally not believed to have descended from the Roman instrument. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar. Although the development of the earliest “guitars” is lost in the history of medieval Spain, two instruments are commonly cited as their most influential predecessors, the European lute and its cousin, the four-string oud; the latter was brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 8th century.^[6]

Learn More about the recent collection of the Ouds dated back to 1200 AD from Oud Migration website at the link below:

https://oudmigrations.com