The manifacture of the lute (oud)

Collection title

Craftsmen

ID

TUN00051

Source

TT (TN)

First broadcast date

04/11/2010

Production year

2010

Abstract

The episode deals with the manifacture of the lute (oud:meaning wood in arabic). It is an ancient musical instrument with five binary strings. Many arab countries such as Syria and Iraq claim their superiority in manifacturing lutes because of the big number of craftsmen in Damascus and Baghdad, but the ' tunisian lute' is special; it has four strings. The lute is composed of: - A sound box also called the lute back. - The chest or face with slots to increase the sound volume. - The "faras"; a device to fasten the strings. - The "neck", the part where the musician presses on strings. - The "nose", on top of the neck, on which the strings are placed and slightly raised above the neck. - The 12 keys used to fix the strings. - The five binary strings, with the possibility to add a sixth on. - The plectrum made of ivory, used to play music. Unfortunately, this traditional craft is disappearing as only a few craftsmen still manifacture the lute, most of them in Tunis.

Type

video

Production companies

• Tunisian TV - Own production

Broadcaster

Télévision Tunisienne - Télévision Tunisienne 2

Audiovisual form

Documentary

Personalities

• El Haddad Abdelhamid

Primary theme

Markets and crafts

Secondary themes

• Society and way of life
• Art, Culture and Knowledge / Music and songs

Credits / Cast

• El Kattani Ilhem - Speaker
• Edababi Mustapha - Producer

Period of events

• 2010

Map locations

• Tunisia - North - Tebourba

Original language

Arabic

Media running time

22m27

Additional information