oud
A pear-shaped, fretless stringed instrument considered the ancestor of the European lute, central to Arabic, Turkish, and Persian classical music traditions.
In Depth
The oud (from Arabic "al-ʿūd," meaning "the wood") is one of the oldest and most important instruments in Middle Eastern music. It typically has 11 or 13 strings in courses, a short neck with no frets, and a large resonating body with a distinctive bent-back pegbox. The absence of frets allows players to produce the microtonal intervals essential to Arabic maqam and Turkish makam modal systems.
The oud was brought to medieval Europe through Moorish Spain, where it evolved into the lute (the word "lute" derives from "al-ʿūd"). While the European lute eventually gained frets and diverged, the oud maintained its fretless design. It remains the principal instrument for classical music across the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran, with distinct regional playing styles. Modern players like Anouar Brahem and Dhafer Youssef have brought the oud into jazz and world fusion contexts.
The European lute takes its name directly from the Arabic "al-ʿūd" — the oud is literally the ancestor of all lute-family instruments in Western music.