The oud is a short-neck lute-type,pear-shaped,fretless stringed instrument,usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses,but some models have five or seven courses,with 10 or 13 strings respectively.
The music of China consists of many distinct traditions,often specifically originating with one of the country's various ethnic groups. It is produced within and without the country,involving either people of Chinese origin,the use of traditional Chinese instruments,Chinese music theory,or the languages of China. It includes traditional classical forms and indigenous folk music,as well as recorded popular music and forms inspired by Western culture.
The pipa,pípá,or p'i-p'a is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute",the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin,which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty,and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked chordophones,its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped instrument.
The erhu is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument,more specifically a spike fiddle,which may also be called a Southern Fiddle,and is sometimes known in the Western world as the Chinese violin or a Chinese two-stringed fiddle.
The sanxian is a three-stringed traditional Chinese lute. It has a long fretless fingerboard,and the body is traditionally made from snake skin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes for different purposes and in the early 20th century a four-stringed version,the jiaxian sanxian (加弦三弦),was developed. The northern sanxian is generally larger,at about 122 cm (48 in) in length,while southern versions of the instrument are usually about 95 cm (37 in) in length.
Wu Man is a Chinese pipa player and composer. Trained in Pudong-style pipa performance at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing,she is known for playing in a broad range of musical styles and introducing the pipa and its Chinese heritage into Western genres. She has performed and recorded extensively with Kronos Quartet and Silk Road Ensemble,and has premiered works by Philip Glass,Lou Harrison,Terry Riley,Bright Sheng,Tan Dun,Zhao Jiping,and Zhou Long,among many others. She has recorded and appeared on over 40 albums,five of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards. In 2013,she was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America,becoming the first performer of a non-Western instrument to receive this award. She also received The United States Artists Award in 2008.
The yueqin,also called a moon lute or moon guitar,is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a lute with a round,hollow soundboard,a short fretted neck,and usually four strings. It is an important instrument in the Peking opera orchestra,often taking the role of main melodic instrument in lieu of the bowed string section.
The zhongruan is a Chinese plucked string instrument. The zhongruan has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard and 4 strings. It is usually played with a plectrum. It can also be played with fingers,which is similar to the way of playing the pipa (琵琶). The zhongruan is a tenor-ranged instrument in the family of ruan (阮). In ancient China,the ruan was called Qin pipa or Ruan xian (阮咸). Now the ruan has expanded to different sizes and the zhongruan is the "medium" one.
Cheng Yu is a Chinese musician,known as a performer of the pipa,a Chinese four-stringed lute,
Khyam Allami is a British-based musician and musicologist of Iraqi descent. He is best known as a contemporary player of the Arabic oud lute and has also written about and lectured on Arabic music.
The Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra based in Beijing,China,which is composed of eleven classically trained musicians,who interpret elements of Chinese folk music. The intention of the group is to express the changes taking place in contemporary Chinese culture,through the sounds of ancient instruments. It has participated in important national and international music events held in Brisbane,Canberra,Wellington,Christchurch.
The Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music was a Syrian orchestra dedicated to the performance of classical Arabic music,as well as experimental work based on traditional music from the Middle East. The orchestra played regular concerts in the Damascus Opera House since its opening in 2004. Due to the ongoing Syrian civil war,most of its members,like its principal conductor and oud virtuoso Issam Rafea,or Moslem Rahal,a notable ney player,have left Syria for exile in Europe,the US or other countries.
Charles Dennis Cawood is an English multi-instrumental musician,composer and music journalist,known for his cross-disciplinary musical skills as well as his work with a wide variety of projects and artists.
Lui Tsun-Yuen was a Chinese composer and teacher of Chinese classical music. He is known for his compositions and recordings of the pipa and guqin,and is recognized for bringing Chinese music to Western audiences.
Music for the Motherless Child is a collaboration album between English folk guitarist Martin Simpson and Chinese pipa player Wu Man,released by Water Lily Records in 1996. As with the other album's released on the label,it was recorded at Christ the King Chapel,St. Anthony Seminary,Santa Barbara,by Tamil producer and label owner Kavichandran Alexander,who,also similarly to the label's other releases,curated and oversaw the project as a fusion between the music of two disparate cultures. Neither Simpson or Man had met before the recording of the album,which was done in only a single session that lasted seven hours. Alexander employed vacuum tube recording and took advantage of the church's natural acoustics.
Lutes are stringed musical instruments that include a body and "a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body".
Waed Bouhassoun is a Syrian singer and oud player. She has released four solo albums of traditional Syrian music,and toured internationally since 2010. She is a founding instructor-performer for the project "Orpheus XXI –Music for life and dignity," supporting refugee musicians in Europe. In 2018,she was made a chevalier (knight) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Issam Rafea,also written Essam Rafea,is a Syrian musician,music director and composer,noted for his compositions and performances on the Arabic oud,as former director of the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music and for his collaboration with jazz and world music bands. Since 2013,Rafea has lived in Chicago,touring in the US as well as internationally.
The Higher Institute of Music in Damascus (HIM) is the national music academy in Syria.
