Once, in a small nursery in Italy, I played the oud for a group of children. They were five years old, of course, laughing, restless, with no idea what this strange pear-shaped instrument was. After I finished, one of them…
Discussing artistic identity is never simple. It’s never linear — and that’s exactly why it’s artistic and not robotic. Every artist’s path is unique, like a fingerprint, yet deeply influenced by culture.
After publishing my first blog about discovering the oud across cultures, I have received emails asking me: "Why did you choose the Turkish oud and not the Arabic one?"
It’s a beautiful question — and the answer, like the instrument…
The oud, often called the “sultan of instruments” or “king of instruments”, is a fretless Middle Eastern lute with ancient roots going back over 5,000 years to Mesopotamia.
Loved by musicians across the Arab world, Turkey, Iran, and…