Is it strange that labors for an oud would be made in secret at all?”
Oud maker labors in secret on Baghdad rooftop By HAMZA HENDAWI (AP) – 13 hours ago BAGHDAD — In a tiny workshop on the roof of his home in a Baghdad slum, Farhan Hassan works in secret, lovingly curving wood and tightening strings to make his ouds — a traditional Arabic instrument. Only close family and friends know what he is doing, because the militiamen in his neighborhood frown on such frivolities. The oud’s angst-filled tunes define Iraq’s music, the same way the Tigris and Euphrates rivers define its landscape. But nowadays few in the country play or make the oud, a pear-shaped, deep-voiced cousin of the lute. Hundreds of artists fled Iraq during the violence in recent years — and continued instability and the power of religious hard-liners give them little desire to return. So Hassan’s ouds have come to symbolize a lost Iraq, or maybe the country it could become one day. What they don’t speak of is today’s Iraq. “My country has no flowers, love or beauty,” said Hassan, “I want t
In a tiny workshop on the roof of his home in a Baghdad slum, Farhan Hassan works in secret, lovingly curving wood and tightening strings to make his ouds – a traditional Arabic instrument. Only close family and friends know what he is doing, because the militiamen in his neighborhood frown on such frivolities. The oud’s angst-filled tunes define Iraq’s music, the same way the Tigris and Euphrates rivers define its landscape. But nowadays few in the country play or make the oud, a pear-shaped, deep-voiced cousin of the lute. Hundreds of artists fled Iraq during the violence in recent years – and continued instability and the power of religious hard-liners give them little desire to return. So Hassan’s ouds have come to symbolize a lost Iraq, or maybe the country it could become one day. What they don’t speak of is today’s Iraq. “My country has no flowers, love or beauty,” said Hassan, “I want to leave Iraq and go some place where I can have a normal life.” A gentle, soft-spoken man wit
