Why do we collect?

In 1974 the Italian writer Italo Calvino wrote an essay called ‘Collection of Sand…

Alexandria to Brussels, 1879

By Rachel Beckles Willson There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding this oud. Victor Mahillon, curator of the Museum of Musical Instruments at the Brussels Conservatoire, acquired it from Alexandria in 1879. Saskia Willaert, curator of African Collections at the museum, has gathered sources relating to the purchase, and from these we learn that Mahillon…

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Oud of a luthiery student

By Karim Othman Hassan We know nothing of Mustafa, the maker of this oud, apart from the fact that he was studying carpentry or instrument making. So Stockholm’s Swedish Museum of Performing Arts (Scenkonstmuseet) is home to the instrument of an intermediate-level student. Why might the instrument be significant? Part of the answer lies in…

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Oudmigrations launch concert

We are marking the opening of Oudmigrations with a concert at one of London’s most beautiful private concert salons, Music at 22 Mansfield Street. Please join us to hear the oud in multiple combinations and repertories, and enjoy this breath-taking Adam style house while you listen. 13 April 2016, 19.30 (welcome drinks served from 19.00)….

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The journeys of ouds

We think the oldest surviving ouds are in Europe, preserved as a result of French, Belgian and English research and collecting. Their journeys shadow the routes of imperialist acquisition. But ouds have long been associated with journeys. And as time moves on towards the end of the 19th century, others ouds reveal the travels of musicians…

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Cairo to London, 1867

By Rachel Beckles Willson England’s first oud arrived in 1867 thanks to some obscure international diplomacy involving Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt. The French state mounted its second Exposition Universelle in Paris that year, and it involved not only massive displays of French industry, but also exhibits from other nations. Many of these presented…

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