Jassim AlArroug

Legend has it that the origins Ud, one of the fundamental instruments of Turkish music, extend back to earliest humanity. According to the Koran, Adam’s son Cain, after slaying his brother Abel, and not knowing what to do with his corpse, carried it along with him and tried to protect it from predatory animals. Later, seeing a crow bury a dead crow in the earth, he imitated it; this was the first interrment in human history. When Cain’s son Lamesh lost his five-year- old son, who was born after his daughters Sala and Bem, he could not, despite knowing to bury the dead, bear to bury him in the ground. Cain, reminded by his son’s mounful crying of Adem’s expulsion from Heaven, hung the corpse to a tree so that his son could see it always. After the flesh had rotted from the corpse and only the bones remained, his father still could not bear to lose it, so he took the body down from the tree and tied horse hairs to the skeleton, the ribs of which resembled the ud’s body, and the legs of which resembled its neck. When Lamesh, who had fifty wives and one hundred concubines, heard the sound that came forth when he strummed the strings, he died on the spot from his grief.
Legends asıde, when we examine the ud scientifically, we see that this instrument, like many similar ones, has a history as brilliant as the Sumerians and other early civilizations. Some Persian and Arab writers say that the instrument, used in the east and the west for centuries, was invented by Pythagoras, and others say it was Plato. However studies have shown that the origin of the ud, as well as several other instruments in use today, was the kopuz used by the Turks of Central Asia, which later passed, in altered forms, into the Chinese and Japanese cultures as the ‘Pi-pa’. Barbud, master musician to Hüsrev Perviz, the last ruler of the Iranian Sasanid dynasty, played the ‘kopuz’, the oldest of the Turkish instruments. Because of Barbud’s legendary musical fame, the kopuz became known as ‘barbad’ or ‘barbed’. We learn from the volume known as the Ravzat’ül Safâ that in the year 7 or 8, Hj. (629), Horasan was foremost in Barbed players. After the Barbad, which was nothing other than a short, stout kopuz, passed to the Arabs in the 7th century, it took the name ‘al-Ud’, which means ‘aloe wood’ in Arabic. When the Anadalusian Ummayads entered Europe, it became known as ‘Laud’ in Spain, ‘Liuto’ in Italy, ‘Luth’ in France and ‘Lute’ in England. With the addition of gut frets to the neck in the 16th century, it became known as ‘guitarra moresca’ and was used by the European troubadors up until the end of the 18th century. After the first half of the 19th century, popular with the foremost members of the Spanish aristocracy, it developed into the present-day guitar.
From the Anbar-ül Hükemâ, by the great 8th century Islamic philosopher Yâkûb el-Kindî, we learn how he healed a patient by telling four musicians what they should play to him. It is known that the one to give the ud its present shape was the great Turkish scholar Fârâbî, who lived in the 10th century. To the ud, which up until his time had had four strings, Fârâbî added a fifth, and adapted the ‘Cem-i Tam’ (full system) to the instrument, bringing out the strings’ full potential.
A few centuries later, the great genius of Turkish music Hoca Abdülkadir Merâgî; in a work explaining Safiyüddin Urmevi’s ‘Edvâr’, claimed that the the ud was the oldest instrument of the eastern peoples, and makes mention of two uds, the ‘Ûd-ı Kadîm’ and ‘Ûd-ı Kâmil’ (‘Old ud’ and ‘perfect/complete ud’). According to his writing, “The Ûd-ı Kadîm has four double courses of strings and is tuned in fouths, while the Ûd-ı Kâmil is the most developed of instruments, with five double courses and also tuned to fouths.” Though Hoca Abdülkadir Merâgî’s son and his student Abdülaziz Çelebi mention names such as ‘Tuhfet’ül Ud’, ‘Ud-ı Fârisî’ and ‘Udu’ş-Şebbut’, it is fairly clear that there were no major differences between them. From information left by Şerif Muhiddin Targan we learn that the sixth string, named the ‘bam’ string, was added by the great virtuoso of the 19th century Ûdî Şâkir Paşa, who called the ud ‘sâz-ı ekmel-i mûsikî’ (the most perfect musical instrument). This ‘bam’ string, below the then lowest, ‘Gerdâniye’ string, was moved in the 1950s by Câfer Açın to a position above the Kaba Bûselik string, and thus the ud gained its present form.
In an interview conducted one year before his death, Şerif Muhiddin Targan relates the following:
“In works such as the ‘Kitâb’ül Agânî’ and musical histories by western orientologists, especially the English orientologist Farmer, there is useful information about the ud from such great scholars as the the philosopher el-Kindî, Fârâbî and İbn-i Sînâ. But because books from those times are not available to us, it is not known what they played on the ud, or what degree [of mastery] they attained. A student of İbrâhim Mûsî went to Andalusia and spread the ud there. Up until then, the plectrum used for the ud was made of a type of wood, or of leather; it was he who first used an eagle feather. During that time, the strongest strings were those made of tiger gut.
During the Ottoman period, the countries where the ud was used were all within the Empire. Because the center of the empire was Istanbul, artists coming up in various places generally came here; the most skillful players of the eastern instruments gathered and came up here. This was the case with the ud. During our times I have gone to the countries where the ud is played, and listened to the best; I found the ones in İstanbul superior. On this point I have received little information from my own masters. For example, they say that it was Şâkir Paşa who began using the ud in Turkish music, that he was also the one who added the sixth kaba dügâh string, and that later on Ûdi Yâver Bey, Ali Rif’ât Bey and Nevres Bey came up. I had heard that little was known about the ud in Istanbul before Şâkir Paşa, however, while reading Nef’i one day, I happened across this verse in one of his gazels:
Let the singer take Ud in hand and as he burns,Let us burn too, be set alight, let us sigh as our hearts ignite
Şâkir Paşa came up during the time of [Sultan] Abdülhamîd. Nef’î lived in the 17th century, during the reign of Murâd IV. Perhaps no masters had come up before Şâkir Paşa worth to enter the classical music ensembles. In the late Rauf Yektâ Bey’s writings about the old ensembles, I did not come across anything that would shed light on this point.”
15th century Turkish scholar Ahmetoğlu Şükrullah, in his Kitâb’ül Edvâr, dedicated to İsa Çelebi, one of the sons of the 4th Ottoman Padişah Yıldırım Bayezid, gives a broad range of information on the shape, measurements, construction, strings, tunings and playing tecniques of the instruments in use by the old Turks. He divides the instruments into two groups, the ‘Kâmil sazlar’ (complete instruments) and ‘Eksik sazlar’ (deficient instruments). Concerning the ud, which he places in the ‘Kâmil sazlar’ group, he relates the following;
“Qualified masters of this art are united in the view that the wood of which the ud shall be made should not be young, it should be aged of its own accord over time, it should not be heavy and moist. The best wood for the ud is ‘şahçop’, which comes from the seashore. If this is not available, cypress can also be used, and if this cannot be found, the wood chosen should be similar to these in sturdiness, heaviness and age. There are five strings, each of a different thickness. The heaviest string gives the deepest tone, and is called the ‘bam’ string. The following strings, each thinner than the previous, are called ‘mislâs’, ‘mesma’, ‘zîr’ and ‘had’. The strings are made of twisted gut.”
After its evolution through the centuries, the modern-day ud has a body shaped like half a pear, a short neck and eleven strings, ten of which are in five double courses, and one which stands alone.
Today some performers change the tuning of the fifth and sixth strings, according to the piece to be played, thus extending the ud’s range to over three octaves, and increasing its resonance and musicality.
The body of the ud is constructed of staves of alternating woods such as walnut-plum, sycamore-juniper, curly maple-mahogany or rose-palasenque, glued together side by side over a watermelon shaped mold. Its face is made from spruce, in which three sound holes are opened, one large and two small. Into these, roses of wood, bone, ivory or horn are mounted.
According to one fun legend, a mouse once gnawed its way into an ud, which before then had no holes, and when it was noticed that the sound had improved, these three sound holes were added.
The fingerboard is made of a hard wood such as ebony or palasenque to prevent wear. Similarly to ensure sturdiness, the tuning pegs are made of ebony, cornelian cherry, or kiln-dried hornbeam. Through its history, the material used for the strings has changed from horse hair, to gut in later times, to the quality nylon and silver-wound silk strings in use today. The plectrum, called ‘mızrap’ in Turkish, was since very old times made from an eagle feather. Later on masters moved to materials such as cherry bark, hard leather such as that used for shoe soles, and tortoiseshell; besides these, picks made of quality plastics are now used.
The most important ud makers no longer alive today are
Manol Usta (1845-1915), Mustafa Usta –an assistant of Manol– (1885-1935), Hamza Usta –an assistant of Manol– (1884-1915), Galip Usta ( 1880-1960), Mihran Keresteciyan (1865-1940), Vasil Usta –an assistant to Baron– (1875-1915), Kapıdağlı İlya (1870-1930), Hâdi Usta (1910-1990), Onnik Usta (?- 1965?), Cevdet Kozanoğlu (1896-1986), and Fahri Kopuz (1882-1968).
Today ud construction is quite improved; and Turkish lutenists have completely taken the place of the Armenian and Greek masters.
Today, uds made by masters such as Sabri Göktepe, Cafer Açın, Turan Demireli, Teoman Kaya, Faruk Türünz, Engin Eroğluer, Cengiz Sarıkuş, İbrahim Coşkun, Hasan Coşkun, Özgür Çekiç, Fikret Işıkçı, Ramazan Calay are popular and in wide use.
performers
The oldest performers of ud whose names have been determined are: (15th century) Avvâd (Ûdî) Kul Mehmed ve Avvâd Şîr Merd; and (16th century) Avvâd Zeyn’ül Âbidin, Avvâd Nasûh, Avvâd Hüseyin, Avvâd Hasan Ağa, Avvâd Ayas, and Avvâd Abdülkadirzâde.
17th century poet Cevri Efendi, telling of players and singers of his period in one of his verses, speaks of playing techniques. Avvâd Muhammed, also praised by Evliyâ Çelebi, in poetry:
There is one Avvâd Muhammed, hailing from PersiaIn all the Empire there is none to rival himHe takes his ud in hand, strikes firmly the high and low stringsEach melody, each piece, a delight to the soul
A favorite instrument of the Ottomans until the 17th century, the ud was overtaken in popularity for nearly two centuries by duo of Tanbûr-Ney; but after the second half of the 19th century it began to regain popularity in the hands of certain great performers. Certain artists in particular are responsible for bringing the ud in to the 21st century, and through their 78 rpm recordings, have become as teachers to the new generation. The foremost of these include such artists as Şâkir Paşa, Yâver Bey; Basri Bey, Ali Rifât Çağatay, Ûdî Âfet Efendi, and Şekerci Cemil Bey; the renowned Ûdî Nevres Bey; Şefif Muhiddin Targan, who regarded the ud as a western instrument and acquired worldwide fame with his pieces such as ‘Kapris’, ‘Koşan Çocuk’, and ‘Kanatlarım Olsaydı’. Others include Yorgo Bacanos, who earned the awe of his listeners with his agility; as well as Selânik’li Abdi Efendi, Ûdî Mısır’lı İbrâhim Efendi, Refik Tal’at Bey, Sedat Öztoprak, Fahri Kopuz, Kadri Şençalar, Hrant, and Câhit Gözkan. Female artists also gained extreme popularity on the ud: Nevres Bey’s student Bedriye Hoşgör, and later on, Kerîme Hanım, Ûdî Nasib Hanım, Ûdî Nimet Hayriye Hanım, Fazilet Hanım, Nebahat Hanım, and Vecihe Engin carried on the style of their masters.
On the subject of methods, much work has been done. The first was that of Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, written in 1900; other methods that have guided students since then include those by such names such Ali Salâhî Bey, Fahri Kopuz, Şerif Muhiddin Targan, Sâdi Erten, Kadri Şençalar, Cemil Beşir, İskender Kutmâni, Cinuçen Tanrıkorur, Onur Akdoğu, Mutlu Torun and Gülçin Yahya.
Since 1930s, ignorance has deposed the ud from its throne, and turned it into a common instrument to be hammered on by everyone in bars and films. In mid-twentieth century, the young generation has reversed this unfortunate trend, and begun performing again in adherence to traditional styles. In addition they have approached it in a scientific manner afforded by a Conservatory education, analyzed the performance styles of the old masters with the help of computers, written Master’s and Doctorate theses, and, bringing up countless students, laid the foundations for this instrument to be carried forward into the centuries to come.