The Damascene oud is a unique Syrian heritage within an exhibition and symposium on the cultural mezze

Damascus-SANA

The ancient Damascene oud heritage, its stages of manufacture and its history was the focus of the symposium that was held at the Arab Cultural Center in Mezzeh, in which Dr. and plastic artist Fouad Toubal and Sheikh Kar Al-Oud Ibn Sarouja neighborhood of Damascene Bashar Jawdat Al-Halabi participated.

At the beginning of the symposium, Dr. Tobal, a professor at the College of Fine Arts, reviewed the journey of stringed instruments, indicating that historical Syria witnessed many civilizations, including the Sumerian, in which the first musical instruments arose, the harp, pointing out that many artists across civilizations painted the lute in their paintings in a variety of forms.

Tobal explained the necessity of inculcating the oud instrument in the minds of the new generations, because this instrument is part of the Syrian heritage and was present on all evenings and evenings of Damascene men and women.

In turn, the Sheikh of the Oud Kar, Bashar Jawdat Al-Halabi, reviewed the parts of the Oud instrument from the face to the house of the keys, in addition to its geometric dimensions, indicating that the chest of all stringed instruments is made of fir wood.

Al-Halabi, who never played the lute, but was content with making it, stopped the obstacles of this craft in our time, the most important of which is the scarcity of wood in the Ghouta region, which forces craftsmen to rely on some of the imported wood available in their hands.

Al-Halabi states that the first Damascene oud was made in 1880 by the artisans Abdo and Rofan the sculptor, indicating that the real oud is pure and free of decorations and inscriptions.

The symposium included a musical evening performed by the artists Louay Barakat and Faten Sidawi, during which they performed a synthesis of the Damascene heritage and songs by Umm Kulthum. The artists Nour Al-Asali and Ayman Kharbatli participated in playing the oud.

The audience enjoyed an exhibition of more than twenty ouds of different dates and shapes.

Hadi Imran