So why, after a lifetime of playing the guitar fiddle and mandolin, did I happen upon the Oud as my favourite instrument? It's puzzling.
I've had a guitar since I was 9 nine years old and started out strumming 3 chord songs at family parties. At the age of 11 I discovered the mandolin
and spent most waking hours mastering the instrument. While this was happening I played trombone in the school orchestra and upon enlisting in the Air
Force continued to play trombone in military bands. I then took up Irish Fiddle and played in many dance bands.
About 3 years ago I accidentally came across the Oud. I was driving through London listening to BBC Radio 3 when the presenter played Ciaconna
Paradiso by the Pera Ensemble. It's a reworking of a European 16th Century dance tune reimagined by a Turkish Ottoman ensemble complete with kanun,
dombek, oud etc. I had to stop the car to listen. It was that good.
After some research I discovered that the Pera Ensemble is the brainchild of Mehmet Yesilçay, a German/Turkish musician and oud player. After that
and many idle hours on youtube I just knew that I needed an oud. I found one on eBay for £100 and never looked back. It's just a standard,
unremarkable Turkish standard factory oud with no label but I love it. She's called Fatima and she sounds great.
The thing that puzzled me was the fact that my trombone, fiddle, mandolin and guitar have laid idle in the music cupboard for the last four years
while I've obsessively studied Maqam and Taksim. It's intoxicating and I've tried to understand why. I think the answer eventually came last month.
I've been playing Fatima at gigs but have been struggling to get her properly tuned and amplified. I eventually bought a Godin Electro-accoustic
Multioud and all those problems vanished. It's easy to tune ( and keep in tune ) and the plug-in electrics are feed-back free. It's an great
performance instrument but it's not really an oud.
A well set-up and tuned accoustic oud buzzes and hums in your hands. You feel it resonate through your stomach. This is what the electro oud
lacks.
This got me thinking. When you pluck an accoustic oud string the sound travels to your brain , via the ears, at about 720 miles per hour. So far, so
good. However the resonant vibrations through your hands and stomach travel to your brain at about 200 miles pr hour. There's a time lag. A gap. I'm
no physicist or neuro scientist but is this gap where the mystery of oud addiction happens?
Jody Stecher - 3-28-2014 at 05:21 PM
At what speed does the sound of guitar or mandolin travel through the body toward the brain? Is there not also a difference in speed between body to
brain and ear to brain?
Does a well-set up mandolin or guitar not also vibrate, buzz and hum in your stomach and hands? (bad mandolins and guitars do not, I agree).
I agree that there is something special, something remarkable about the oud. But I don't know if it can be quantified or explained.
Maybe.
Try playing the same repertoire and phrases on the mandolin and guitar as you do on the oud. You will find that most of it doesn't quite work out as
well. It's not just because the frets are not optimally placed. It's something to do with the wave form. Perhaps the wave form of an oud sound is well
suited to the music that gets played on an oud and the wave form (the sound) encourages certain melody shapes. That's terribly imprecise because after
all many other instruments play the same melodies that an oud plays, but each in their own way. But maybe I'm pointing in the right direction or at
least not in the completely wrong direction.hussamd - 3-29-2014 at 05:48 AM
My love for the oud has to do with its sound and the ability to carry a song single-handed. I cannot say the same about my guitars who currently sit
in the corner seething Perhaps the closest would be an acoustic guitar but I
never got into that.
I would say all instruments are linked to what mood you are in. If I want to relax I pick up the oud. If I want to rattle the windows on the house
then the guitar is it. They all have a place in my life, and I am thankful they are in it.Lysander - 3-29-2014 at 06:10 AM
Quote:
My love for the oud has to do with its sound and the ability to carry a song single-handed.
Very much so. For me the oud is a very spiritual instrument and each note can carry a world of meaning. The depth of resonance and the vibrations of
the airspace and the wood create a very solid and natural timbre. I feel that the oud cannot lie. It is a truthful instrument in its sound, it will
tell you exactly how the player is feeling and how "in tune" the player is with the instrument itself.
Quote:
I would say all instruments are linked to what mood you are in. If I want to relax I pick up the oud. If I want to rattle the windows on the house
then the guitar is it.
This is why the guitar is a rock instrument. You can play it without warning up, you can play it while drunk and knock out something that sounds good.
The same is not true of the oud. It demands complete focus and connection.
Perhaps the closest would be an acoustic guitar but I
never got into that.