rootsguitar - 10-13-2014 at 05:54 AM
Any ideas on when the first ouds made it to America?
Could it have been earlier than the 1800's?
Without worrying about specific details I'm curious to hear any speculation.
Recently I had the good luck to travel to the East Coast and camp around a point where Europeans landed in North America in the 1600's.
I like to think lutes might have showed up around then too, maybe by ship crews having instruments around.
I took this idea to make the following clip:
http://youtu.be/1j50CD9xKHk
I'd also welcome any ideas as to the what the first oud music that was performed in North America might have sounded like.
Would it have been similar to modern improvisations?
( clips encouraged)
Thanks
[file]32842[/file] [file]32844[/file]
John Erlich - 10-13-2014 at 07:55 AM
I would venture a guess that the first ouds arrived in America with the first wave Arab (Christian) immigrants in the 1880s. They were mostly from
what is now Lebanon and Syria.
rootsguitar - 10-16-2014 at 08:26 PM
Hey thanks John, that's a good place for me to start looking...
I'm trying to get in touch with the Music department at the Smithsonian to look into early American Lutes...I'm going to check about Ouds too.