RA_Oud - 3-12-2007 at 03:33 PM
Took these pictures of an old oud that I saw in a display case at Ellis Island in New York. The description said an immigrant brought it over to
America around 1918 – 1920.
Pictures
RA_Oud - 3-12-2007 at 03:56 PM
Pictures
RA_Oud - 3-12-2007 at 03:57 PM
oud_laud_luth_lute_liuto - 3-13-2007 at 03:29 AM
thanks for these photos...are interesting and moving
hakeem.ram - 3-14-2007 at 07:34 AM
maybe the player was lefthanded. single string seems to be at the lowest position unless inverted for a lefthanded person.
What do you think?
Jonathan - 3-14-2007 at 07:53 AM
That was common a hundred years ago, when the treble strings were unreliable--they broke easily, were hard to get in tune, and the idea of getting two
together in unison was overwhelming. So, a lot of old ouds have a single treble string.
Over the years, almost all of them have been modified. This one hasn't been played, so it remains as it was.
billkilpatrick - 3-14-2007 at 08:29 AM
every picture tells a story ...
i read a fabulous book by mark helprin called "winter's tale" that opens with an immigrant couple from europe being refused entry to the united states
because of illness with consumption. realizing their fate when they return, they set their only - healthy - child adrift (moses fashion) in the new
world on the waters of new york harbor.
as the american-born grandson of a scottish immigrant, it never crossed my mind to consider what it must have been like - having come so far and
expecting so much - to be turned away on ellis island and summarily sent back ...
... as it's hard to imagine the circumstances which befell the poor guy who lost his oud - the only source of income he was even remotely sure of.
chaldo - 3-14-2007 at 08:35 AM
It must be ruinous for a oud to stay on Illis Island without any protection from humidity.... it's soooooo humid there
thanks for sharing your pictures.
nouphar - 4-6-2008 at 07:50 AM
Ancient lutes from Europe and Moorish Spain had single treble strings, hadn't them?
jdowning - 4-6-2008 at 12:48 PM
Yes - lutes of the 16th and early 17th C generally had a single top (treble) string - all of the other courses were double - for the reason given by
Jonathan - the very thin gut treble strings were difficult to make of uniform diameter, had a short life and were, therefore, costly. On early lutes
(and related instruments like guitars), the double courses in the bass might comprise of a thick and thin string pair - tuned an octave apart, the
thin string giving a brighter sound to the basses. As string technology improved towards the end of the 16th C, the string pairs were made equal in
diameter throughout and were tuned in unison - including the top treble course.
In Spain, the 16th C vihuela (a close relative of the lute and oud of the period) had double courses tuned in unison throughout - so, for some reason
the string technology in mid 16th C Spain seems to have been well in advance of developments in Europe - possibly due to the earlier oud influences
and/or because the strings may have been made from silk filament rather than gut? Silk strings - that we know from early Arabic texts were used on
ouds - are made like a thread and so are very uniform in diameter. Spain was a major silk producing country as late as the mid 20th C.
That is a very nice looking oud on display. It would be interesting to know if there was more information available (from the Ellis Island Museum)
about the instrument itself (drawings, photos etc) - as it may have an historical significance worth preserving beyond the social history aspects.
Does anyone have ready access to that organisation? Information about the strings might be of particular historical interest.
bulerias1981 - 8-19-2012 at 03:38 PM
I wonder if there is any more information about this oud. I'll have to stop by myself sometime soon. It appears to be Turkish or Armenian. Not very
Syrian (Arab)
At that time, Little Syria (neighborhood where the Arab community stood in what is now the famous financial district is in southern Manhattan is.) was
very much alive. Ellis Island was a stone's throw from that area which is also a part of Battery park where you catch the ferry to reach Ellis Island.