The oud is a fretless, plucked short-necked lute with a body shaped like half a pear. The Oud can indeed considered the very embodiment of Arabian musical culture. Music theory, in particular the Arabian tones system, was and still is illustrated with it: it is regarded as the cornerstone of Arabian art music in concerts, on the radio, and in the domestic sphere. It is not without reason that the Arabs call the Oud Sultan of the Musical Instrument.
Both men and women perform on this instrument. Since the beginnings of Arabian musical history, the lute enjoyed immense popularity and was not absent from any festive and jovial social gathering. Still today, the tender and sweet sound of the Oud fascinates the Arabian listener, who occasionally compares the tone to the voice of a nightingale. The Oud is as widespread in North Africa and the Near East as, for example, the piano is in Europe. At any rate, its area of distribution is not limited to the Arabian world alone but reaches far off into Central Asia and the regions south of the Sahara.