Oud links 

Here you have some nice links to other oud pages. Due to the amount, I categorize them:

 A> Commercial (but useful) sites 

Yildirim Palabiyik is a well known oud maker from Izmir, who builds and sells high quality ouds. All handicrafted instruments, also at request specifications.

Maqam music : an excellent resource to get Arabic music CDs. Many tracks can be heard through RealAudio. Also they sell instruments, books, scores, etc. The site works like cdnow.com, but fully oriented to Arabic world.

John Vartan : an oud player who made (and sells) an instructional video plus written manual for the oud.

Ouds : article from a commercial page named Lark in the Morning, a very high quality URL.

Oud strings : German site who sells oud (and other) strings online. By luthier Matthias Wagner.

 B> General info about oud 

Iraqi oud : site built by Swedish player Ronny Andersson. Very good looking, and frequently updated.

Music of the Near East - Introduction : an excellent page to dig into Arabic music.

Oud home page : a very well built homepage, plenty of information. Highly recommended.

Kasparian's oud page : some oud photos from this player's collection.

Ud Web - Oud Web : an amazing collection of oud links, kept by Gregor Schaefer.

Islamic Music : an excellent and detailed article from Encyclopaedia Britannica.online. A very good way to get an approach to Arabic music.

Oud site from Greece : kept by Dimitriadis Nikos. A concise but practical, nice looking site from these beautiful country.

Mike's Oud Website :A wonderful site with a message board and many oud streaming soundtracks.

Oudfrance.com : Jean-Luc Vezier owns this new oud site from France. Bilingual (english-francais).

 C> Specific oud topics 

Maqamworld : the best resource to understand such hard topic like maqamat (Arabic scales) is. It explains the basis of these complex musical patterns, soundfiles included. Highly recommendable if you dare to deal with maqamat!

Arabic music scores : at Bill Anderson's site, a very interesting collection of them.

Arabic music soundfiles : both in mp3 and RealAudio files, lots of them at Mike Malek's "Arabic Ouds" site.

 D> Oud players 

Rahim AlHaj website : official site from this virtuoso Iraqi player, who push forward to new forms to play his ancestors' music.

 E> Oud building and related topics 

French Polish tutorial : the ultimate site to learn how to polish your instrument step-by-step. Huge amount of info and pics.

Hide glue information : from famous lute maker Van Edwards. Hide glue is the commonly used adhesive for lutes and ouds.

Musical Instrument Makers' Forum : a message board kept by luthiers making many different musical instruments.

A mold building lesson : at Van Edwards' site. How to make a mold for your future oud.

Jameel's oud project : the site of this novel oud maker, showing in detail his progress according Richard Hankey's book. 

A fiberglass oud case tutorial : how to make a hard case for your oud, nicely explained. Easier than you could expect at a glance...

> If you know about another interesting oudpage, please email me the link with a brief comment <

 F> European lute sites 

F Bored about ouds? Then, here you have some good European lute links:

Isidoro Roitman website : the personal URL of this gifted lutenist/theorbist. Data sheet, concerts, schedules.

The Lute Page : by Wayne Cripps, this main site is probably the "milestone" regarding lutes. Many links, and an excellent and helpful mailing list.

Art Robb website : Plans, techniques & woods from this known lute maker. Also many links.

Bach plucked! : the site of Bach on lute, by Australian lutenist Michael Stitt.

Classical Guitar and Lute : a very good site, fun and "personal" by Allan Alexander. Many scores, midi files and links.

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