Mike's Oud Forums

Oud Gallery - your oud photos needed!

David Parfitt - 2-16-2013 at 04:21 AM

I've recently been working on improving the Oud Gallery section of my website here:

http://www.oud.eclipse.co.uk/gallery.html

I would like to expand this section further, but to do this I need people to send me photos of their ouds. Many of you have already posted photos of your oud(s) on these forums, so that is just the kind of thing I'm looking for.

If you would like to add your oud to the page, then please email me some photos of it to david@oud.eclipse.co.uk together with as much info as possible: maker, style, dimensions, woods, strings, tuning, etc.

It doesn't matter if your oud was built 200 years ago or 2 days ago - it will probably still of interest to most of us.

Hopefully as many people as possible will get behind this idea, and help make the page as comprehensive as possible. If you already have your oud in the gallery but have some better photos, more info, or a new instrument, then please get in touch too.

Many thanks

David


SamirCanada - 2-16-2013 at 10:46 AM

Great idea David, your site could become a photographic database of the worlds ouds.
Give me a few days to label and organize my photos and I will them send to you.
Everyone should get behind this it's a great project

Ararat66 - 2-16-2013 at 11:49 AM

Hi David

Do you need me to resend my images - you had them on your existing website.

:)

Leon

Alfaraby - 2-16-2013 at 12:41 PM

Great idea, but:
1. Ouds should be classified according to an alphabetic order of the luthiers' family name, not the owner. Who owns the oud is of no importance. On the contrary, people don't really want everyone on Earth to know what ouds they have or had owned once upon a time !
2. Luthiers' names should be accompanied with a photo of the master. Members can contribute by sending you photos of a luthier you have never seen.
3. There should be a filter to what to be written beside each photo, not fairy tales like: "Nahat the grandfather of Abdo ... 1825 ...Farid gave it to an American woman, bla bla bla..." ! None of the Nahat family ever made ouds before Abdo & Rofan back in 1880. Period !
4. Ouds data base should be inspected by experts before being published, otherwise it would be more like other things in the Arab oudland now: a whole mess !

....

Good luck
Yours indeed
Alfaraby

David Parfitt - 2-16-2013 at 03:05 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Alfaraby  
Great idea, but:
1. Ouds should be classified according to an alphabetic order of the luthiers' family name, not the owner. Who owns the oud is of no importance. On the contrary, people don't really want everyone on Earth know what ouds they have or had owned once upon a time !
2. Luthiers' names should be accompanied with a photo of the master. Members can contribute by sending you photos of a luthier you have never seen.
3. There should be a filter to what to be written beside each photo, not fairy tales like: "Nahat the grandfather of Abdo ... 1825 ...Farid gave it to an American woman, bla bla bla..." ! None of the Nahat family ever made ouds before Abdo & Rofan in 1800. Period !
4. Ouds data base should be inspected by experts before being published, otherwise it would be more like other things in the Arab oudland now: a whole mess !

....

Good luck
Yours indeed
Alfaraby


Hi Alfaraby

I really appreciate your constructive comments. I agree that a comprehensive database of existing ouds arranged by luthier would be a fantastic resource and is certainly something to strive for. However, my existing oud gallery really came about after quite a few people suggested that it would be good to have somewhere to share their oud collections with the wider world. In my experience, most oud owners are happy for people to know what ouds they have and enjoy seeing what other people have.

I think there may be room for both approaches though. I'm currently working on a section of the website for past and present luthiers, so a database of photos could be easily incorporated into this. The general gallery could exist alongside it too and be linked to it, allowing people to choose which approach they prefer and how much detail they want. Sometimes people feel like just browsing a magazine rather than picking up an encyclopaedia!

It's interesting that you mention the "grandfather of Abdo" oud, as I was going to raise this subject on the forum. I see that this oud is listed as an 1835 Abdo Nahat on Richard's website, but that's the only other info I could find on it. I would very much appreciate it if you could add or correct anything about it (or any of the other ouds I have listed for that matter). It's only through the involvement of experts like yourself and others that this can be made into a valuable resource, as I can't hope to do this on my own.

All the best

David

jshead - 2-17-2013 at 08:25 AM

Thanks, David, for the work.
I have several ouds that I have collecting for the past 10 years.
I will send pics and info.

David Parfitt - 2-17-2013 at 09:08 AM

Samir / jshead - many thanks for your support with this, looking forward to seeing your photos!

Leon - no need to resend the pics, I've transferred them across from the old version of the gallery.

All the best

David

Ararat66 - 2-17-2013 at 10:02 AM

Hi David

No probs - I got your U2U also.

Thanks

Leon

David Parfitt - 2-27-2013 at 01:18 AM

Thanks to everyone who has sent photos for the gallery so far, and please keep those pictures coming!

All the best

David