Chris-Stephens
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Why is the Oud the only Arabic Lute?
I'm just curious about something that may not even have an answer, but across the Middle East and Asia, each 'cultural region' has multiple lutes -
Turkey has oud, tanbur, baglama, cumbus;
Persia has oud/barbat, tar, setar, tanbur;
India has sitar, sarod, veena,
Afghan has rubab, sitar, dutar,
China has pipa, ruan, liuqin, sanxian
Vietnam has dan day, dan nguyet, dan tam
Yet Japans Shamisen, the Azeri Tar, and Arab Oud are the singular cultural lute for their region.
Any thoughts on this observation?
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John Erlich
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Mostly, but not entirely, true. There are some use of other traditional stringed instruments in the Arab world, but a bit marginal, compared to the
other cultures you describe. For example, there is some buzuq in Lebanon and Syria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2B3_RUWJKM . Another example is the guembri in Morocco - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_qThG8<b>hug</b>
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abc123xyz
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But the Azeris have a saz beside the tar, Japan the biwa beside the shamisen, and, as John already noted, the Middle-East includes the buzuq.
David
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Jody Stecher
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Morocco has giimbri and snitra. Algeria has mandolin and kwitra and oud 'arbi. Tunisia has another kind of oud 'arbi. In days gone by Egypt and
Lebanon had a tanbur, perhaps another name for buzuq. Syria has buzuq. And that's just what has appeared on recordings available in "the west". Dig
deeper you will find all sorts of "lutes" almost anywhere. As for India, you just scratched the surface, there are so many.
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Brian Prunka
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Well, since the Arabs perfected the lute when they made the oud, what's the point of any other lute? 
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Badra
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Arabs have oud and buzuq. But the buzuq and other long necked lutes such as the ones you list for Iran and Turkey are less in demand to satisfy the
needs of Arabic music. The demand for these type of lutes is low in Arab music, therefore no need to expand beyond buzuq.
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Chris-Stephens
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Great points, all, and yes I missed some lutes along the way from each region, these were just examples, - but I would hardly call the saz an Azeri
lute, every player i've ever heard has been Turkish or Kurdish only. Are there some Azeri saz players you could recommend? And yes I forgot about the
Biwa as hardly anyone plays it anymore but it is another lute so it really is the Mashriq that only has one main lute. I was unaware of the Buzuk! And
i'm mainly thinking of the Mashriq when referring of the "Arab" world but I appreciate the Maghrebi information too. And I agree Brian the Oud is
perfect so no need to reinvent the wheel! I just find it interesting that some cultures have multiple lutes and others only one 
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Badra
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Personally, I wish there was more buzuq in Arabic music. I think it sounds great. Here are a couple examples...
https://youtu.be/XrxOfE2G1bA?t=23s
https://youtu.be/3MHybsf82Bk?t=3m20s
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bugaga
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[rquote=115529&tid=17477&author=Chris-Stephens but I would hardly call the saz an Azeri lute, every player i've ever heard has been Turkish or
Kurdish only.[/ rquote]
Also Azerbayjan has an Aşik tradition. As you can see in this video also their saz has a different playing position, more strings, a different
fretting system, plus a different style and tuning, I guess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_WX15L-OCA
As there are many Azeri people in Iran, you also find the same instrument and tradition in Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is-kuqmSV0s
One could say, saz is a Turkish instrument, but not only.
Plus saz comes in so many different forms in Turkey already and some of them show different links to Persian-Kurdish tambour or Persian dotar, which
both of them again have a big family in many cultures/countries.
Here a nice improvisation on ruzba, which belongs to the Turkish saz family;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7h2BBFh9IY
Instrument creation is an evolition and doesn't know borders.
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SamirCanada
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Let's not forget Matar Mohamed the farid el atrash of buzuq.
I would say in Lebanon buzuq is probably just as popular as the oud. Many famous musicians and composers are known for including it in their pieces. I
am thinking ziyad rahbani in particular
Enjoy this. https://youtu.be/gt-wW6vmY_8
@samiroud Instagram
samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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Jody Stecher
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Quote: Originally posted by SamirCanada  | Let's not forget Matar Mohamed the farid el atrash of buzuq.
I would say in Lebanon buzuq is probably just as popular as the oud. Many famous musicians and composers are known for including it in their pieces. I
am thinking ziyad rahbani in particular
Enjoy this. https://youtu.be/gt-wW6vmY_8
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And don't forget Mohammed Abd El Karim. One might say he was the Sunbati of buzuk!
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Chris-Stephens
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Thank you bugaga and Samir for the examples! Love finding new instruments!
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majnuunNavid
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Let's not forget the southern Arabian-peninsula's instrument called Gambus, which may have melted into the Oud at some point. But it's still used
today.
The Gambus was imported into Malaysia and that's why there are so many Oud players in Malaysia. In Malaysia, Gambus and Oud are sometime synonymous.
But a Gambus is definitely not an Oud, but sometimes Ouds are called Gambus.
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abc123xyz
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The Azeri saz is different from the Ottoman saz. Sāz is a Persian word for musical instrument that has become attached to a
variety of instruments in the East.
This lady seems to be popular on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=A%C5%9F%C4%B1k+Z%C3%BCl...
David
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