Gharib Abboud... A journey of excellence in the oud industry that exceeded thirty-five years

Homs-Sana

A special relationship between the craftsman Gharib Abboud and the manufacture of ouds, that instrument that he loved and learned to make with perfection, to become one of the most important and skilled makers of ouds in the province of Homs.

Long hours he spends in his workshop in his village of Qalatiya in the countryside of Homs, where he talks to SANA about his craft and its beginnings: “I started in 1983 with personal efforts by visiting the makers of the oud and observing them in a number of oud manufacturing workshops. I was able to overcome many obstacles and difficulties, and I was able to produce the first Oud instrument after a period of about a year.”

Abboud worked alone in his workshop until 2014, when his son began to help him and mastered the manufacture of ouds and bouzoukis, stressing that the number of ouds he made was very large over a long period of his work in this profession.

Regarding the period of manufacture of the oud, he explained that it depends on the quality of the wood used. It could be a day or a month, pointing out that wood is generally available, but there are rare woods that are sometimes difficult to obtain.

In addition to manufacturing ouds, Abboud works in maintaining them, not to mention that he plays the oud after learning it with the aim of distinguishing his work in terms of sound, pointing out the importance of the instrument maker having even a simple knowledge of playing in order to be able to experience the success of the instrument.

He noted the great turnout of children and young people to learn to play, wishing everyone who started learning patience and continuity, because music is a universal language that any young person can learn easily with continuous practice.

At the end of his speech, he pointed to the need to work to show this artistic heritage to the whole world, and to invest it in a way that contributes to the advancement of Arab music in general and Syrian music in particular.

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