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"The transfer of terms for lyre and
lute appears more subtly in the myth of
the invention of the ud which has been handed
down in two variants from the 9th and 10th
centuries, the first being Iraqi (Robson,
1938) and the second Iranian (Mas'udi, 1874).
They say that the ud was invented by Lamak
[sixth grandson of Adam], a direct descendant
of Cain; on the death of Lamak's son, he
hung his remains in a tree, and the desiccated
skeleton suggested the form of the ud. The
myth attributes the invention of the mi'zaf
(lyre) to Lamak's daughter." (Stanley
Sadie: The New Grove Dictionary of Musical
Instruments, vol. 3, p. 688) Other sources
suggest other interpretations such as; God
gave to the sons of Cain the faculty of
making musical instruments, Lamak invented
the lute, ud, Tubal the drum daff or tabl,
Dilal (the daughter of Noah) the harp, mi'zaf,
and Lot's people the pandore, tunbur. (Simon
Jargy: program notes from Munir Bashir's
L'art du ud CD)
"The ud first appears in Mesopotamia
during the Kassite period (1600-1150 B.C.)
with a small oval body." (Harold G.
Hagopian: program notes from Udi Hrant Kenkulian
CD) "It was the favorite instrument
of the Sumerians and the Assyro-Babylonians."
(Simon Jargy: program notes from Munir Bashir's
L'art du ud CD) The ud, in Pharaonic Egypt
was known as nefer, also appears in the
"tomb of Sen-Mut, a tutor of Princess
Neferura, who exercised great influence
over the arts during the reign of Queen
Hatshepsut from 1501 to 1479 B.C."
(program notes from H. Aram Gulezyan's The
Oud CD) "A larger variety, similar
to the instrument's present day dimension,
appeared in a relief at Alaca Hoyuk in Anatolia
dating from the Hitite New Kingdom (1460-1190
B.C.)." (Harold G. Hagopian: program
notes from Udi Hrant Kenkulian CD)
"In the 9th century, Mawardi, the jurist
of Baghdad, extolled its use in treating
illness, a principle allowed and defended
in Arab Spain by the 11th century theologian
Ibn Hazm. The symbolism lived on until the
19th century: 'the ud invigorates the body.
It places the temperament in equilibrium.
It is a remedy ... It calms and revives
hearts' (Muhammad Shihab al-Din: Safinat
al-mulk, p. 466) ... In any case it was
predominantly in the secular usage that
the ud made its mark, as the only kind of
accompaniment to a form of responsorial
song known as sawt, according to written
tradition (the Kitab al-Aghani of al-Isfahani)
and oral tradition (Tunisia and the Arabian
Gulf).
The emergence of the ud on the stage of
history is an equally complex matter. Two
authors of the end of the 14th century (Abu
al-Fida, and Abu al-Walid ibn Shihnah) place
it in the reign of the Sassanid King Shaput
I (241-72). Ibn Shihnah added that the development
of the ud was linked to the spread of Manicheism,
and its invention to Manes himself, a plausible
theory because the disciples of Manes encouraged
musical accompaniments to their religious
offices." (Stanley Sadie: The New Grove
Dictionary of Musical Instruments, vol.
3, p. 688) Reaching China, an oud like Chinese
instrument, pipa featured in instrumental
ensembles of the Chinese Han Dynasty (206
B.C.). Later in Japan, it evolved into an
instrument called biwa. It also reached
Russia evolving into balalaika, and also
to Indonesia where it evolved into gambus.
"But the movement's centre was in southern
Iraq, whence the ud was to spread towards
the Arab peninsula in the 7th century. However,
the texts
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Music in the house of a notable (detail),
source: UNESCO: Turkey-ancient miniatures |
mentioning the introduction to Mecca of
the short-necked lute as the ud were all
written in the 9th and 10th centuries."
(Stanley Sadie: The New Grove Dictionary
of Musical Instruments, vol. 3, p. 688)
"The founder of the ud school of Baghdad
[in the 9th century], Ibrahim al-Mawsilli
and, above all, his son Ishaq al-Mawsilli
were among the most esteemed and honored
people in the [Abbasid Empire] ... The influence
of the grand master, Ishaq, of Baghdad was
such that one of his most brilliant disciples,
Ziryab [jealousy and intrigue on the part
of his teacher, Ishaq drove Ziryab to seek
refuge in Andalusia], transported the art
of the ud to the banks of the Guadalquivir
in Moorish Spain, at the far extremity of
the Empire." (Simon Jargy: program
notes from Munir Bashir's L'art du ud CD)
"When [Ziryab] arrived in [Moorish]
Spain, the cities of Cordoba, Seville and
Granada were centers of great cultural,
artistic, and religious activity. These
centers, under the inspiration and influence
of the Sufis, were to have a tremendous
impact on medieval Europe. Once settled
at the court in Cordoba, Ziryab set about
introducing the concepts of a new music,
drawn from Greek, Persian and Arab elements,
that was to influence deeply the foundation
of European classical music." (Kavichandran
Alexander: program notes from Hamza El Din's
Eclipse CD) Then the ud was brought to Venice
through coastal trade.
Eventually "the ud was introduced into
western Europe by the Knights Templar returning
from the Holy Land and by the Troubadours
from Provence. Having reached the Troubadour
from Muslim Spain, this instrument was to
play a crucial role in the establishment
of the Romantic Courts. The poetry, music,
and ideals that ensued from this great endeavor
became the infrastructure upon which the
Renaissance was built. Brought into the
British Isles, the ud was transformed in
the Elizabethan period into the western
European lute." (Kavichandran Alexander:
program notes from Hamza El Din's Eclipse
CD)
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