Damascus-SANA
The Damascene Oud Heritage Symposium held by the Arab Cultural Center in Mezzeh on its second and last day included a musical evening presented by singers Louay Barakat and Faten Sidawi, during which they sang a combination of Damascene traditional and traditional songs.
The poet Rod Marzouk, who moderated the symposium, presented a traditional poem about the oud, which sang about the originality of this ancient instrument.
The Sheikh of the oud, Bashar Jawdat Halabi, touched on one of the most important Damascene families that worked in the manufacture of this instrument and kept its secrets, the family of the sculptor, who added to the oud simple inscriptions and decorations that do not distort this instrument, but added a lot of aesthetics to it.
Al-Halabi pointed out that the lute was made from camel bones, especially the thigh bone, because it is the toughest, while the strings of the oud were made from the intestines of sheep, noting that the specifications of the oud began to change after the year 1950, such as replacing the strings with nylon. The manufacturers did not focus on the sound of the oud, which led to a decline in some specifications.
During the interventions of the audience, Engineer Rola Aqili, Director of Intangible Heritage at the Ministry of Culture, indicated that this event is held within the days of culture, indicating interest in this machine, because it will soon be included on the lists of the world human heritage at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Hadi Imran
