‘Oud' was not a known musical instrument in the ancient culture of Sumer . The emergence of such an instrument in fact is attributed to the Accad period (Rashed, 1984, illustration on page 62). The instrument that was used to be played by King Shwaji, (of the Third Ore dynasty), was a new one that was named Goodi, a term that is possibly derived from Arabic.
The people living in that era believed that the instrument had been invented by the nomadic tribes as it was light and could be easily carried.
According to Estodor (1961) this musical instrument should have been brought from the Caucasus . On the contrary, Esoomir developed an idea that was based on a letter from Merry in the 18 th century, showing a small statue of a woman playing ‘ oud ' . He suggested that the instrument had been invented by the western Semites. But, among all human statues belonging to the Bronze Age in Syria , none was demonstrative of a musician.
Therefore, today the attention is mainly focused on the Ilamite era when, according to the findings of Enis Espike made in 1972, designs depicting ‘ oud' were commonly illustrated on clay pots that have been unearthed in excavations in Shush ( Susa ) region.
There is a type of ‘oud' with an oval-shaped body that has to spit like finger boards. This finger board has made two holes on the sides of the pot. It seems that this 'oud' is played by an important person like a magician or a peddler. The structure of this oud was investigated by Ichman on 1988 the magicians or the peddlers played another kind of ' oud '. But this kind of oud didn't have holes on the sides and its belly was oval.
The finger boards of Koorigalzo are so long. Kodoro has these long finger boards too. We can find this one at the Louvre museum and also in Babylon area.
There is a kind of oud in Lorestan, a western province of Iran , which has a circle like belly and it is made from bronze. This kind of 'oud' can also be seen on a puppet show dull that belongs to the Parthian period. According to the culture of Mesopotamia , the familiarity of oud can be seen in Egypt . This musical instrument has been exhibited since the period of the new empire.
Silver dish with a back ground like the previous one. This historical dish was discovered in Mazandaran (a province of Iran )
And it has been at the British museum since 10.12.1953.Dalton talks about it in the Oxus treasure book. And Farmer in his book
Named Farmer (picture 11, page 29) says that this historical dish belongs to a period which is after the Sasanian period.
The back ground of this dish is an open area that is near to a pond and a garden. A lord and his servants are sitting on cushions.
According to the picture there are two musicians beside the pond. One of them is playing a big oud on the contrary side. But the details of this picture are not clear. This musician takes the oud in a position that its finger board is down .This model of taking of the ' oud ' has been common since the Silosids period.
'Oud' in Sasanid era ( Iran , 5 th -6 th century)
The pictures available on metal dishes that have been found in this period and also poetries of Iranian poets show that oud was a common musical instrument at that time and the famous 'oud' player of this period was Barbad. There are a lot of stories about his art and master. A group of people think that the word “barbat”, the Persian name of oud, is derived from the name of Barbad . But another group thinks that the term “ oud ” means the chest of duck. They say that if we put this instrument in a position that the back of it can be seen, we can see the similarity between this instrument and chest of duck.
In the ancient Iranian stories we can read that Khosrow Parviz, the king of Sasanian, had a horse named Shabdiz. He loved his horse but his horse died and because the king loved his horse, no one dared to tell him that his horse was dead. So Barbad told him with the help of his musical instrument when he was playing the instrument, Khosrow Parviz shouted and said,"My Shabdiz is dea”.
'Oud' in the Pharaonic Egypt (200-1600 Hegira)
After a lot of investigations a bout the paintings that have been drown on the pyramids of Egypt , we can understand that Egyptians have two kinds of oud s:
• Oud with a short finger board: this musical instrument looks like the oud which is playing at the present time of Egypt . This oud was made of an oval belly and it had a thin zool and a short finger board. It was played with a wooden plectrum which was tied to the instrument.
• Oud with a long finger board: This instrument looked like a dium or a Persian guitar (setar). Most of these instruments had notes and its belly was oval like which was made with 5 or 6 angels. Like the Egyptian rebeck or Turkish tar, people put this oud on their chest or head and played it .We can say that the existence of oud and the existence of musical civilization of Egypt , were contemporaries. Oud was the most perfect musical instrument which was played at the parties and religious ceremonies. This instrument was also played for the hymns (1)
Herodtus, the Greek historian, recalls musicians in Egypt who used to sit on board a boat and play music over the Nile River.
Oud in Greek (5 th century)
Most of music investigators, both Arabian and Persian think that harp has been transferred from Greek to their countries. These investigators think that Pythagoras revealed the harmony between the musical sounds and after that he invented oud . But some people think that the oud was invented by Plato. If this theory is true, the Greek oud transferred to the east as the other traces of Greek civilization. Of course this transfer of oud was after the attack of Alexander (sun of Philip, the king of Macedonia ) and the possession of Iran and India and also after the attack to some part of Asia , Europe and Africa . But the validity of this theory should be investigated.
Because we know that after the possession of these areas, Greek was impressed by the culture of east (2) .So, the opposite form of this theory may be true. But of course oud existed in Egypt before this date.
In Greek, oud is called Barbitos or Barbiton. The usage of this instrument at the religious and nonreligious ceremonies is like other civilizations.
1. Egyptian praised all of the good and bad things of nature. But the prays of sun was very common. They embodied their gods with a human body and animal head and sang religious songs for them. These songs are carved on the pyramids of Egypt .
2. Their closeness with the eastern civilizations changed the form of Greek civilization and the new civilization was called Helenistic. After the death of Alexander till 30 years this civilization was common and it transferred to all of the possessions of Alexander .So after Alexander all of that time governments became as a center of Helenistic civilization.
Oud in Babylon and Assyria (since 1720)
The Assyrian oud has a lot of notes. It looks like the oud s which are seen in the drawings of the ancient Egyptians. It has a long finger board and it is known as the Assyrian dium. Nowadays this oud is common in Syria , Lebanon , Jordan and Turkey . This oud which is very common in these areas has the same shape and name as the old ones.
Oud in Babylon ; Babylon , Sumer and the areas around them were the first countries who invented the different kinds of oud . They also invented a musical instrument which had only one chord .They played it by putting and moving finger on this chord .This kind of playing the instrument with finger makes different kind of sounds.
Hebrews
Hebrews were from Semitic race. They were living at the south of Arabia . Their living was a nomadic life and their job was tending flocks. At a bout 3000 years before the birth of Jesus, first tribe of Semitic race came to the north-west of Bahrolrom, the area which is between Damascus and Egypt . The tribe which came to this area was called as “Canaanites”. These people had a special form of writing, industry and also a kind of trading.
David, the prophet, was one of kings who introduced the Hebrews tribes or the Jews. He had a lot of good characteristics. Some of his characteristics were bravery, poetic gift, musical talent and a good voice for singing the poetries. Because of these characteristics, all of the people paid attention to him .David's book was called” The Psalms” .Malawi , the great poet has a poetry a bout David says that everyone sing and every one is pr oud of his singing but best of these singers is David.
Finally, the Assyrian over threw the Israel 's government and captured 30000 soldiers. Afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Chaldea , overthrew the government of the Jews and captured its governors.
Except the book, literature and music Hebrews didn't have any talent for the other arts like stone carving, painting and statuary.
Some arts like statuary and painting were forbidden in the Hebrews religion and because of this, they paid all of their attention to literature and music. The historical evidences show their talent in these two skills.
The poems of Hebrews tribes were funeral poems and some of them were religious but the other poems were a bout their wars.
The Jews chanted some funeral poems when they were captured.
One of these poems was as follows:
We are sitting at the bank of Babylon River and our oud s are tied to the willow-trees of the coach. Babylionians ask us to sing a song for them. But how we can sing our holly songs in the strangers` country.
People used the musical instrument for singing the songs and some of the songs were performed with the help of a kind of musical instrument. At the religious ceremonies, most of the songs were performed with the help of a drum or a cymbal.
The Hebrews` musical instruments were made from metal, wood. They had some musical instruments like flute, drum, metal and horn like trumpet, cymbal, oud and others. In the Old Testament we can see two kinds of musical instruments.
Mansoor Zalzal
He is a famous Iranian musician of the Abbasid period. His name has also been spelt as Zalzal Razi, Zolzol or Zilzil. He was specialized in playing Tombak and because of this he was known as a Tombak player.
Zalzal was the teacher and also the uncle of Es'haq, the son of Ebrahim Mouseli. Zalzal was one of the senior musicians of Haroon-al-Rashid and Mahdi-al-Hadi period.
At that time it was very common that each musician or singer should cooperate with other musicians from the same level.
Zalzal cooperated with his sister's husband, Ebrahim Mouseli, because he was at the same level of Zalzal. Mansour Zalzal was an expert musician and professional in playing musical instruments. He wrote new notes and put them between the notes of a song .Also he changed some of the notes.
He invented a third note and added it to the notes of the famous Iranian notes. This third note is known among other musicians as Zalzal's note. Doctor Barkeshly in a research article writes that Zalzal did not believe in the division of tones in terms of smaller and greater notes. He also made a type of oud that because of it `s similarity to Shabbut (a kind of fish), is known as Shabbut oud . Instead of the word, Persian oud , the word Shabbut oud became very common.
Commenting about Zalzal's skill in playing music, Jahez writes that Zalzal had highly expert fingers for playing music, fingers that were created by God. Whenever he began to play oud, Ahnaf who was a symbol of meek in Arabic literature, would stand up and start to dance.
So, Zalzal was one of the famous musicians of his time. He was a great genus in playing musical instruments. Mansour was a generous person, too. He would give all his money to poor people. He spent most of his money for charity purposes. He built a well in Baghdad that was named after him.
This great musician was imprisoned upon orders of Harron-al-Rashid. After ten years he was released from prison while he was very weak and his hair had been turned white. So was not a healthy person anymore.
Doctor Taqi Binesh puts his death in the year 175 A.H and 791 A.D. But in the book, the history of Iran 's music, Mr. Hassan Mashhoon has mentioned his death in the year 200 A.H.
Abu Es'haq Ebrahim ibn Mahan, known as Nadim was the most popular singer and musician of the Abbasid dynasty. Also, he was one of the great singers of Arabs. His father, Mahan, was from a great Iranian family. He was born in Arrajan, a region in Shiraz . But because of cruelty of the Ommiads, he migrated to Kufa and his son, Ebrahim was born there in the year 125 A.H. Ebrahim`s mother was an Iranian. Ebrahim was a little child when his father died and he grew up in Kufa among the Tamim family. Because of this he was called as the lord of Tamim family.
Ebrahim migrated from Kufa to Mosul . He was there for about one year. He learnt the art of playing oud and because he lived in Mosul , he was called the Moosely. Later he learnt how to sing and play in Rey, Khoozestan, Basra and other areas in Iran and Iraq . He learnt the arts from Iranian music instructors. He was one of the best lyrists. So he composed several songs that ere accompanied by his lyrics. In other words, he was a musician, singer, poet and also a music player. He is one of the founders of Arabic music. He mixed the Persian and the Arabic poems and made a new form of Arabic music. He composed songs and poems which soon became popular in the Arab word. He changed the form of Arabic lyrics. After the death of Ebrahim, his son Es'haq continued his father's way and promoted his masterly profession. Es'haq's student, Ali Zaryab, promulgated his teacher's style prevalent in Andalusia ( Spain ) and Morocco .
Ebrahim Mooseli migrated from Basra to Baghdad . His migration was during the reign of Mehdi of the Abbasid dynsty. Mehdi invited him to Baghdad but, Ebrahim did not like the ruler of the royal court. He used to drink wine and spent most of his time in debauchery which was strictly forbidden upon the Caliph's orders. The Caliph imprisoned him and it was in prison where he learnt how to read and write.
At the time of Hadi's caliphate, Ebrahim's situation improved to a great extent and he became an intimate from of the caliph who used to give him a lot of gifts.
In Harron-al-Rahid period, Ebrahim's situation further improved and he was promoted to the rank of the court singer, poet and musician. He was also the caliph's intimate friend. The caliph liked him very much.
He made a huge wealth out of the gifts he received from other caliphs of the Abbasid as well as Yahya Barmaki and his sons (Fazl, Jaafar and Mohammad). Ebrahim then made a trip to Damascus . He went there with Harron-al-Rashid but became sick there and Haroon took him back to Baghdad . His sickness was colic. He died in Baghdad in the year 188 A.H. When he was sick, Haroon met him at his house and after his death asked his son, Mamoon, to perform the prayer for the dead and bury him. Harron delegated all of Ebrahim's titles to his son, Es'haq. Also, he gifted some money to his family. Many books have been written about Ebrahim's extraordinary skill in music such as “Laylatah-wa-Layla” and also “Alaghani”.
Ebrahim Mooseli had established an art school in his house. He taught playing oud to the girls. The rich families of Baghdad would send their girls for learning how to play oud . Furthermore, he would buy many slave girls and would teach them different fields of art. Then, he would sell them to the caliph and other rich people.
Abu Mohammad ibn al-Nadim Es'haq ibn Ebrahim Mooseli was one of the most famous friends of Haroon-al-Rashid. He was one of the Haroon's intimate friends. After Haroon, he served as a close friend for Amin, Ma'moon, Moatasem, Vasegh and Motavakel. He was born in Rey in the year 155 A.H. His mother was Iranian and her name was Shahak. He died in the Motavakel period in Baghdad in the year 235 A.H. because of his father's relation to the Bani Tamim tribe, he was also known as Tamimi.
Es'haq had a good and perfect education. His teachers were people like Malek ibn Anas, Sofyan ibn Oyayna, Abu Moaviyeh Zarir, Hoshaym ibn Boshayr and Asaad ibn Ibrahim.
He learnt recitation of the holy Quran from Kasaei and Farra and Arabic literature and poetry from teachers such as Asmaei and Abu Obaydeh. But, his teachers for learning how to sing and playing musical instruments were his uncle Zalzal as well as Atekeh bint Shohda and his father. According to Abulfaraj Isfahani, his knowledge in science, literature and poetry was so deep that could be explained. He was very talented in playing musical instruments, too. Although his skill in signing was in a lower degree as compared to his vast knowledge in science and literature, however, he was more famous for playing music and singing. His songs were even more popular than the Arab song.
His first promoter and supporter was Haroon-al-Rashid and his government, especially Yahya ibn Khalid Barmaki and his sons. They greatly supported Es'haq to the extent that he became richer than his father.
After the death of his father, Es'haq became famous for being the best musician and governors and the caliphs admired him a lot. In return, Es'haq would compose songs in their praise that would convey their fame throughout the Islamic world. His poems and songs were source of grandeur and magnificence of their ceremonies and feasts.
There were many singers who were at the same level of Es'haq but none of them could play oud as perfect as him. He compared himself with Pahlbod Moghanni and believed that he had inherited the art from him.
Although he had no knowledge of science of music and translation of Greek books, however, his compilations in these fields were as outstanding as the ancient works. He had perfect knowledge about all the details of the science of music and compiled some new musical styles. He believed in division of the songs. He started to sing with a l oud voice and because of his style of singing, he was called as “snake bitten”. Abulfaraj Isfahani termed him as a high level artist and said he was one of the best musicians who completed all styles of musical science. His famous students were Ibn Khardazbe, Obydullah ibn Ahmad, Zaryab, Ali ibn Nafe, Amr ibn Soleyman and his son Hammad ibn Es'haq.
Hammad was the first person who wrote Esh'aq's biography. In fact, he wrote a book about Es'haq `s biography.
Zaryab: Abulhasan Ali ibn Nafe, known as Zaryab was among great Iranian musicians. (Ibn Khaldoon writes about him: “The people of Mosul had a servant whose name was Zaryab”. By referring to the people of Mosul he meant Ebrahim Mosuli and his sons.) He was entitled Zaryab and known as Basri. He learnt the art of music in Baghdad from his teacher Es'haq Mosuli. He improved greatly in this art and became so famous that could enter the court of Haroon-al-Rashid. He had profound knowledge in some fields like science and literature and especially in the art of music. He was one of the rivals of Es'haq Mosuli. Zaryab had a deep knowledge of information about geography, astronomy and literature. He had reached a masterly degree in playing oud and composing songs. He had made innovations in the said fields. So he became the successor of Es'haq at the caliph's court. One of his innovations was that he added a string to oud. The ouds of that time had four strings and Zaryab changed it to five. Also, he changed the plectrum of oud which used to be made of wood. Instead, Zaryab made a plectrum with the eagle's nail. Such a change resulted in producing a better sound. The second, third and the fourth strings of oud were made from the intestine of a baby lion. He believed that since the intestine of lion would be stronger than that of other animals, it would produce a better sound.
When for the first time Zaryab went to Haroon-al-Rashid's court, he took his own oud that was made and completed by himself. The caliph admired him greatly.
Before Zaryab, Es'haq was the best musician of the court. Therefore, he became jealous of Zaryab. Es'haq was a rich man and had an influence on the caliph. Es'haq did not like to be forgotten. He liked to have the same position he enjoyed before.
He tried to convince Zaryab that he should leave Baghdad . Zaryab could not resist because he did not have enough poower to oppose him. As a result, he preferred to leave Baghdad and went to Tunisia , in the north, which was under the domination of Muslims. He lived in Qirwan (the capital city of Tunisia ) and later he went to Spain . Hosham, the Islamic ruler of Spain had heard a lot about Zaryab and his art so that he invited the musician to Cordova, the centre of his rule. He ordered that house be made for him and gave him forty thousand gold coins per year. While Zaryab was in Cordova, Hosham paid him due attention and Zaryab had enough free time to correct the rules for teaching music.
He founded the school of Iranian music in Spain . While styles of Ebrahim and his son, Es'haq,and the Mosuli family were very famous in Baghdad , Zaryab's method became very famous in Spain and was later transferred to littoral countries in Africa and also in Europe .
Zaryab wrote some main principles for teaching music. After Zaryab most of the artists who taught the art used his method of teaching. Zaryab divided the teaching of his students into three stages. At the first stage, he taught them the rhythm of songs. Then at the second stage he taught the flows and finally at the third stage he taught them how to sing the songs. At the third stage, first the students would learn how to sing the main song and then they would add additional songs to it. Therefore, they gradually become perfect in this art. Some believed that first Zaryab tested the talent of the student and then asked them to sit on a special pillow called ”mesvari” and start to sing at the top of their voice. If the singer's voice was not l oud enough, Zaryab would ask him to tie his turban around his waist. If the student could not open his mouth wide enough, Zaryab would ask him to put a little wood into his mouth for 24 hours to keep his jaws open. Then he would ask the student to repeat some words like “ya Hajjam”, “ya Es'haq” and “ya Ah” loudly. If after all such practices the student's voice proved to be loud and powerful enough, Zaryab would admit him as his student and would teach him the art of music. Otherwise, he would not be accepted.
These methods are still common in music academies in the West where the student who cannot open his mouth wide enough at the time of singing, would be asked to put a small bone in his mouth. The bone is two or two-and-a-half cm and has some grooves which help the student to put it in his mouth in a vertical position. Because of these grooves, the student can keep the bone in his mouth up to the end of singing. This method was invented by Zaryab in Spain . Nowadays most of the music institutes of the West practice the method.
Contemporary Iranian Oud
After a lengthy research about the history of oud, now we realize that the Iranian oud has undergone great changes from past to the present time. These changes are as follows: change of its tones, the material of its chord, the method of playing it and also its size. It seems that the finger board of the oud has become shorter and its belly bigger. Of course still ouds can be found in some places around the world with long finger board and small belly. Its belly has possibly become bigger in order to produce a better sound while playing Arabian music.
Maestro Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr, the great researcher and innovator in the field of making musical instruments, in the Iranian calendar year 1376 planned to make a special type of oud and finally made two types known as the Iranian oud. The two new works were:
• The Iranian oud with wooden belly.
• The Iranian oud made of animal skin (with two patterns).
A. The Iranian Oud with Wooden Belly
This oud has five pairs of chords and is like other ouds and there is no difference in playing this oud with other ouds. Therefore, a music player who has played other types of ouds can play this instrument easily. However, given its smaller belly and long finger board, the following advantages could be listed for it:
• The length of the finger board is longer as much as a note. That is to say, at the lower part of the finger board instead of the note ‘sol' we have the note ‘la'. Furthermore, the front part of the finger board of the instrument is longer and is extended to the centre part of the belly. These two factors help the musician to play more easily in higher Octaves.
• Without any change in the size of the instrument, its belly becomes smaller than the previous ones that helps the player feels more comfortable when he is holding the instruments and playing it. This advantage reduces the possible pain in the player's shoulder and also produces a more balanced sound.
• The tail piece of this type of oud has been made with a new model which both looks more beautiful and is also more perfect in terms of technical principles. In other words, the chord would be tied and passed through a hole and then would be placed on the tail piece.
• The style of making bridges that are placed beneath the belly of the instrument is designed as such that despite the fact that the belly is smaller, itscould compete with other ouds in terms of sound and its echo.
• Behind the nut of the instrument, there are delicate small bobbins that facilitate tuning and increase durability of the chords.
• The style of the neck and its connection to the finger board looks more beautiful and also is firmer than before.
• The proportion of largeness of the belly to the human body is more suitable than before to the extent that when the player holds the instrument, it looks more attractive.
B. Oud Made of Animal Skin
There is no major difference between the size of this oud and that of the wooden ouds except for one. The difference is that half of its belly is made of wood and the other half is made of animal skin. The chord of the oud is tied to the end of the belly.
The oud which is made of the animal skin produces a better sound that resembles the sound of Iranian instruments. In the past there were different types of oud which were made of animal skin instead of wood.
Those ouds that are made of animal skin are less resistance to dampness but produce better sound.
Maestro Ghanbari Mehr has made this type of oud on the finger board of which metal frets could be set as desired.
