I have learnt a lot about the oud and oud music from Mike's oud site and this forum. And hope share something with you. There is a Chinese lute called
pipa which looks similar to the oud. It is said that the instrument was brought to China through the silk road, and has been localized to the present
form. The palying techniques have been developed very differently from the oud. I found a very beautiful and expressive piece (video clip) performed
by performed by Liu Fang (pipa) and Ziya Tabassian (framed drum):
