The ud, or oud, is a bit like a lute, sonically. The musical modes are very different from the lute played by guitarist Julian Bream, of course...but the instrument does resemble the lute somewhat. Yurdal Tokcan is my absolute favorite oud player. He's stunningly great! This 11-minute video's from Yurdal's February 2009 concert.
The oud consists of a large soundbox connected to a short neck, distinguishing it from the long-necked lute family (tanbur, saz, baglâma, setar, tar). The body has a pear shape (the modern ones manufactured in Egypt accentuate this even more). Arabic tuning: D G A d g c
Old English lute tuning: A D G b e a
The term kemenche (Turkish: kemençe, Laz: Ç'ilili - ჭილილი, Persian: کمانچه, Greek: κεμεντζές) is used to describe two types of three-stringed bowed musical instruments:
1. a bottle-shaped lute closely related to the Persian Kamanche, found in the Black Sea region of Asia Minor, it is also known as the "kementche of Laz" or Pontic kemenche and
2. a pear-shaped lute closely related to the Byzantine lyra, found mainly in Instabul and the Eastern regions of Turkey, known as Classical kemenche.
Most piyutim (sacred Jewish song poems) are chanted "a cappela." This one is accompanied by Tunisian oud music. The oud (ud) is similar to a lute. You'll hear traces of tambourines, too. And some kind of percussion; perhaps boot heels, perhaps knocking on wood...
guqin qin 古琴 古 琴 gu 古gu gu古 琴qin qin琴 古琴guqin qin+琴 gu+古 instruments instrument old ancient zither lute 7-stringed chinese music society societies organization organizations association associations institute institutes
Born 1974, Yunnan, China, Liu Fang was a child prodigy on the pipa lute and the guzheng zither. A Shanghai Conservatory of Music graduate, winner of top prizes, Liu left China in 1993 for Berlin, then Montreal.
Wang Fei 王菲 MA; Emily (active) San Francisco Bay Area, CA. A young qin player (taught by Li Xiangting) based in the United States, founding director of North American Guqin Association.
American qin player/scholar John Thompson advocates for both silk + nylon-wrapped metal strings for different styles of qin music (much like classical (nylon-string) and steel-string guitar music).