The oud is a plucked string instrument with a large pear-shaped body, a short neck bent back, and usually no frets. It is precisely the absence of frets that allows the production of microintervals and smooth glissandos, without which the music of the Arabic and Turkish maqam is unthinkable.
The oud has a thousand-year history in the cultures of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. In the Middle Ages, by way of Moorish Spain, it reached Europe, where it became the lute (the very word “lute” derives from the Arabic al-ʿūd) — and from the lute runs the line to the guitar. The oud's warm, velvety voice remains to this day one of the most expressive solo instruments of world traditional music.
