Hama- Sana
The artist and maker of musical instruments, Muhammad al-Salloum, from the city of Salamiyah in the countryside of Hama, grew up in an ancient artistic family. He became a musician in love with the percussion instrument. Art and music formed an integral part of his life. He began developing artistically and formally some musical instruments, especially the oud, benefiting from his mastery in manufacturing many instruments. Music at the hands of his brother in a stringed instrument workshop.
Al-Salloum told SANA reporter his story with the oud, stressing that it began in his home where he was raised playing and listening to the oud instrument and attending it strongly in various social events and holidays.
And he indicated that he learned to play the oud instrument since he was 10 years old, and inherited the craft of manufacturing the instrument at the hands of his brother, the artist Adel Al-Salloum, pointing out that he mastered the oud industry and worked on developing it without prejudice to its acoustic aesthetics or its beautiful heritage character.
On the importance of the Oud in our musical heritage, Al-Salloum stressed that the Oud is ancient and has a cultural importance in our country, and it must be developed and modernized in line with the spirit of the times while preserving its character.
He described the Syrian oud as the pioneer in the world and prevalent in most parts of it, and a purely Syrian industry that has its distinctive splendor in terms of decoration and inscriptions that adorn the oud instrument, such as seashells, natural bone, and moonstones that characterize the Syrian oud.
Al-Salloum, which constitutes a unique artistic state combining feeling and professionalism, is keen to develop the oud, especially the classic oud in terms of its external appearance, in addition to placing metal keys for the oud in order for it not to be affected by external factors, because the keys of the basic oud are also made of natural wood, such as Shami walnut and beech wood. And scarcity.
It is noteworthy that Al-Salloum learned the basics of music in the courses of the Revolutionary Youth Union in the late sixties of the last century, when he was only 9 years old at that time, and he won awards in several festivals, and he became the leader of a musical band in record time.
He composed soundtracks for several plays in Salamiyah, such as Hanzala’s Journey and Kingdom of Children, and he participated as a musician with great Syrian and Arab artists such as Sabah Fakhri, Ragheb Alama, Ghassan Saliba, Ismat Rashid, Fouad Ghazi, Elias Karam and others, and in the International Diamond Jubilee Festival that was held in the Portuguese capital Lisbon in 2017.
Abdullah Sheikh and Mohiuddin Fahd
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