As everyone knows, the oud is a bloated and misshapen guitar played throughout the Middle East and Orient, which sounds far nicer than any other misshapen and bloated instrument we have yet to hear (yes, we're talking about you, uberorgan). The oud is often used in conjunction with Middle Eastern percussion and string instruments, such as hand-held drums, tambourines, and qanuns, in order to create an authentic Arabic flavour.
Speaking of authentic, aside from ourselves, there was only one other pair in attendance who wasn't clearly of Arabic or Sephardi descent. We were fine with this, though, it just meant that we didn't quite understand the lyrics to the songs, the cheers shouted out at the performers, the conversations next to us, or the directions to the fire exits.
The two hour long show was lots of fun, and featured several different singers and instrumentalists, all centered around the work of Imad Dalal, who is apparently a very famous oud player. Who knew there were famous oud players? Who even knew there were ouds? Anyways, the music was very evocative and entertaining, and we highly recommend your buying tickets to the next International Oud Festival in your area.
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