Confessions of an oudist…

A lifelong guitarist in folk, rock and (very modest) jazz contexts, I started a serious study of the ud/oud in 2017 under the guidance of Ramy Adly (a student of the Arabic/Iraqi school of Naseer Shamma). With Ramy, I spent years studying the Arabic/Iraqi system on a floating bridge Iraqi-style oud, with an exploration of the musics of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. During the 2023-24 academic year, I studied Turkish ud, makam (the modal system) and Ottoman classical music with Turkish ud master Yurdal Tokcan in Istanbul, Türkiye according to the traditional meşk (apprenticeship) system. I currently play a Turkish ud built at the Luteart workshop in Istanbul, by former luthiers of the famed Faruk Turunz workshop.

The Oud Recital with Viatorum

Please join me on YouTube Live on September 11th at 6:00 PM CDT as I give a concert for oud with special guests Viatorum and Akram Hanna.