Chris-Stephens
Oud Junkie
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Anyone seen the new film "Limbo"? The Oud plays a central role.
https://youtu.be/3O--8AuuhgA
This looks like an interesting film about a Syrian oud player. Anyone seen it yet?
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SamirCanada
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Thanks for sharing, that looks really good and funny.
I read the script, says he's burdened by his grandfather's oud but that's a brand new Zyriab. Lol it's ok we'll give them a pass but should have
sourced a nice old nahat hehhe
@samiroud Instagram
samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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Chris-Stephens
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 5-19-2016
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When did that style of oud with the four diamonds around the central rosette become popular in Syria? There are lots of names i've seen associated
with it like you said Zeryab, Shami, Khalife.
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dusepo
Oud Junkie
Posts: 107
Registered: 2-6-2021
Location: London, Britain
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Mood: Dastgah-e Chahargah ?????? ???????
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Thanks for sharing this, it looks interesting!
Quote: Originally posted by Chris-Stephens  | | When did that style of oud with the four diamonds around the central rosette become popular in Syria? There are lots of names i've seen associated
with it like you said Zeryab, Shami, Khalife. |
My understanding is that is it's based on Nahat designs, but it may pre-date that.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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Location: Brooklyn, NY
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| Quote: Originally posted by Chris-Stephens | | When did that style of oud with the four diamonds around the central rosette become popular in Syria? There are lots of names i've seen associated
with it like you said Zeryab, Shami, Khalife. |
The style is from the early 1900s, I believe. It's characteristic of the Nahat family of luthiers (though not all of their work exhibits this kind of
decoration). If not invented by them, certainly popularized by them and largely associated with luthiers from Damascus (Aleppo luthiers tended
towards more minimalist designs). "Sham" and "Shami" refer to Damascus. "Halab" and "Halabi" refer to Aleppo.
here is a Nahat from 1925:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/776535
One from 1926:
https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/camaimd/id/27/
The marquetry designs are obviously common on furniture and other items from the region (backgammon sets, for example).
Ikhwan Khalife or Khalife & Sons (Khalifa, Khalifeh) ouds have different designs but some similarities. These are generally much later and
lower quality (though some of the older ones from the 50s-70s are good instruments, they became more factory/tourist grade instruments in later
generations).
They look like this:
Zeryab ouds and Zaher Khalife are related to this family and have been trying to produce better ouds. Zeryab makes a range of factory instruments
from basic student level to professional grade. Zaher Khalife has focused on building individual instruments and his are luthier-built instruments of
high quality. They've both produced a lot of ouds imitating the aesthetics of Nahat designs (in some cases copying specific ouds).
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ArmoOudist
Oud Junkie
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[/ rquote]
My old oud looks just like this. I'm pretty sure it was also from Damascus
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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yes, these are ubiquitous.
Some of them sound pretty good. I once had an "Ikhwan Khalifeh" one from the late 60s that was okay, but not great. I ended up selling it. They
are hit and miss, with the ones from the 1990s being mostly pretty bad. Like any factory oud, sometimes you get a good instrument by accident,
though! The pegs were uniformly disastrous but often if you find one the pegs have been replaced with something usable. I suspect the bad pegs on
these probably contributed to a lot of aspiring oudists giving up 
It's heartening to see the new generation of this family of luthiers working to bring back a higher level of quality.
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ArmoOudist
Oud Junkie
Posts: 128
Registered: 11-21-2020
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| Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka |
yes, these are ubiquitous.
Some of them sound pretty good. I once had an "Ikhwan Khalifeh" one from the late 60s that was okay, but not great. I ended up selling it. They
are hit and miss, with the ones from the 1990s being mostly pretty bad. Like any factory oud, sometimes you get a good instrument by accident,
though! The pegs were uniformly disastrous but often if you find one the pegs have been replaced with something usable. I suspect the bad pegs on
these probably contributed to a lot of aspiring oudists giving up
It's heartening to see the new generation of this family of luthiers working to bring back a higher level of quality.
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Don't get me started on the pegs....they would barely move....My enjoyment of the instrument and skill skyrocketed after I got a higher quality one.
(Made in Athens, but the luthier was an Armenian from Izmir)
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
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My first oud was a Khalife from the 1960s. Pretty good. The pegs were absurd though. So eventually I got some ebony violin pegs to replace them. At
the time (about 35 to 40 years ago) I lived next door to a luthier (he made basses and cellos mostly). Before he fit the new pegs we gleefully burned
the old pegs in his wood stove, the only source of heat in his rural shop. Then it turned out that the new violin pegs outweighed the oud!!!!! Can
you imagine? I'd sit down to play and the bowl flew up in the air as the pegbox headed towards the floor. I couldn't put the old pegs back on because
they had been converted to heat. So I drilled holes in the new pegs. It looked funny but the weight was ok. Later I got some very lightweight boxwood
pegs and these looked nice and worked well once fitted.
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ArmoOudist
Oud Junkie
Posts: 128
Registered: 11-21-2020
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| Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher | | My first oud was a Khalife from the 1960s. Pretty good. The pegs were absurd though. So eventually I got some ebony violin pegs to replace them. At
the time (about 35 to 40 years ago) I lived next door to a luthier (he made basses and cellos mostly). Before he fit the new pegs we gleefully burned
the old pegs in his wood stove, the only source of heat in his rural shop. Then it turned out that the new violin pegs outweighed the oud!!!!! Can
you imagine? I'd sit down to play and the bowl flew up in the air as the pegbox headed towards the floor. I couldn't put the old pegs back on because
they had been converted to heat. So I drilled holes in the new pegs. It looked funny but the weight was ok. Later I got some very lightweight boxwood
pegs and these looked nice and worked well once fitted. |
That's crazy...
I remember when I first got my old oud and because it looked so ornate, I thought it was some really old relic that was really special. When I took it
to John Berberian to get it fixed up, he politely told me that it was a hunk of junk and probably was only meant as decoration. Considering that I was
very inconsistent in my practicing for about three years after I got the oud, it was probably for the best that I got something so low quality, then
move to something that was a little better once I more seriously committed.
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