Tracking Down Farid's Ouds

Farid used many ouds throughout his career. I, and I'm sure other Farid fans are curious as to the whereabouts of these ouds today, especially his favorite inlaid oud featured in Gamil Gamal, Ish Inta, and Hikayet Gharami. But other than that oud, he has several others that show up repeatedly in concerts, pictures and in movies.

Hopefully the experts on this subject can chime in. Please corroborate any of these statements, which are not meant to be solid facts, just things I've read. Between this site and others, here is a summary of what I know so far:

- One oud, a Nahat, was acquired by or gifted to Simon Shaheen around the year 2000. That's good news. Can anyone confirm this, and does anyone have a picture of Shaheen playing this oud?

- One oud was possibly sold by Faisal (nephew) for $5 million. If true, depending on who bought it, that is sad. It's a hearsay comment from facebook, maybe somebody can corroborate it.

- Somebody has said that Farid's apartment was robbed at some point and possibly ouds were stolen. Another sad thing if true. Farid's home was beautiful. It's unfortunate it cannot be visited like Halim's home in Cairo.

The pic of the two men on the couch was found on this site. It shows Fouad (Farid's brother) and another man (??) holding Farid's most famous oud. I don't think that is Faisal.

I also found a pic of another famous Farid oud, someone is playing it, the same one seen on the album cover pic, this pic appears to be taken after his death, however no information is provided. These pictures were found on this thread http://www.sama3y.net/forum/showthread.php?t=74906

The rest of the pics are just of the various ouds he can be seen with. I've counted 8 different ouds in these pictures.

Please share any info you may know. Thanks.

Quote: Originally posted by Badra

Here is the Simon Shaheen discussing the oud. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOUGHudYyF4 However it is not clear if the oud in the video is the Farid oud he is talking about. Still need picture.

Thanks for the interesting info Adel. Haunty is a great adjective to describe the sound, I can hear it.

Brian, from that Shaheen video you shared, I can decipher one unique aspect of that oud. That oud has a dark and very large pick guard. That would make that oud unique, I haven't seen a Farid oud like that. But it's tough to tell for sure by that video.

On the Sama3y thread, a poster mentions Simon Shaheen's Farid oud, and includes the attached pictures. One pic of Shaheen with the supposed Farid oud, and the other with Farid holding the Rabeeh/Album cover oud that Ghassan Alyousif is playing on youtube.

But there are some differences between the oud Shaheen is holding and the Rabeeh oud. First, the Farid oud has decorative trim around the soundboard and the fingerboard. The Shaheen oud doesn't. Second, the decoration around the soundhole is very similar, but looks slightly different when analyzing it. Could be a oud from the same maker, Emil Khoury?

What we need is a clean picture of Shaheen's oud. I can try emailing him. Brian, if you see it again, it would be awesome if you can get a picture. I might have to sign up for the retreat to get the bottom of this, and study music of course







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The question is why Emil Khoury is not known even for lebanese makers and players????

Quote: Originally posted by Adel Salameh

The question is why Emil Khoury is not known even for lebanese makers and players????

I have signed up to participate in this thread..

One of Farid's ouds is in Kuwait, at a personal inside the house of Shiekh Darwish Bin Abdullah Al-Dariwsh (who probably has the world's most exquisite collection of ouds).

You can see the collection in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2BT3g7dcgQ&t=271s

One of Farid's ouds is shown at exactly 3:00 of the video, made by "Jamil Qandalafat Yurgaki" in 1968, it uses an adjustable action mechanism.

Quote: Originally posted by Oudistan

I have signed up to participate in this thread.. One of Farid's ouds is in Kuwait, at a personal inside the house of Shiekh Darwish Bin Abdullah Al-Dariwsh (who probably has the world's most exquisite collection of ouds). You can see the collection in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2BT3g7dcgQ&t=271s One of Farid's ouds is shown at exactly 3:00 of the video, made by "Jamil Qandalafat Yurgaki" in 1968, it uses an adjustable action mechanism.

Quote: Originally posted by Badra

Thanks for the video Oudistan. Farid did a lot of work in Kuwait in the late 60s, concerts, recordings, and music videos. In fact the Awal Hamsa concert that has millions of views on Youtube was in Kuwait. https://youtu.be/4d27SYiikOY?t=5m21s The oud he used in that concert was his only one-soundhole oud, the bowl is different style than the collection oud. BUT, the oud Farid is playing in this video, in Kuwait, is one he was never pictured with. https://youtu.be/t5eM9K0e2gw He is using a feather risha, and a wound dd, not his typical set up. This all tells me that the oud was possibly just one he was using when he was there, and not one of his personal ouds. That could be the oud from the collection? We may never know. Is someone able to read the card describing the oud and translate it?

the oud attached is apparently made by Jamil Qandalaf also. The work is very nice and clean so it could very well be.

in the video they talk about his favorite maker being Armenian. it could be he was an Armenian Syrian although Jamil yorgaki Qandalaf sounds more like a typical Christian Syrian name. perhaps it used to be "yorgakian" and they dropped the "ian" to blend in and help pronunciation of their names. this was common for Armenians living in Egypt.

oud maker Hussein Sabsaby recently made a copy of this oud. maybe he knows the maker, I have asked him the question on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXqbGUEDTwK/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXlqAwNj6-r/

Thanks for the translation mham.

Did quick research on Yorgaki, looks complicated because it is a variation of George, and could be given to a Greek or Armenian during the Ottoman period. There are Greeks, Turks and Armenians with that name.

Is this the same maker that made this famous Farid oud? Pics are screengrabs from Zaman Ya Hob. I'm pretty sure I read Farid said in an interview, a maker from Aleppo made this oud.

A couple of post-1974 pics have surfaced of Farid's signature oud. After close analysis, they appear authentic. Despite the pictures, there's still no definitive info as to where this oud currently rests.

Also attached I believe is a rare picture of Jamil Yorgaki Kandalaft holding possibly the same oud. It's hard to tell because lighting can change the specifics of the features and make the same oud look like a different oud.

Update on the Emil Khoury oud, seen in this picture, as well as the famous Rabeeh concert from 1970. Reliable sources and evidence tell me the oud is secured at the residence of Faisal Al Atrash, Farid Al Atrash's nephew. That is good news.

Still investigating the whereabouts of the other, more famous famous Farid oud, the one made by Jamil Yorgaki Kandalaft.