Sample of the Arab-Egyptian oud
The oud (عود), an Arabic-Islamic musical instrument as you should soon see, is discordantly invading our the Coptic musical life, even accompanying our hymns. Listen to this hymn sung in Arabic on Arabic tunes created by oud.
Oud is a chordophone, a lute-type with is a short-neck, pear-shaped stringed instrument with 11 or 13 strings grouped in 5 or 6 courses. It is used in the Islamic world, particularly in Arab counties, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Palestine, Gulf Countries, Lebanon, Iraq, Kurdistan, Somalia, Yemen, and also in Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Through Turkish influence, it spread to Greece and Armenia but it is not original to their culture. It originated from Persia, from its barbat instrument, and spread, and developed to its modern status through Islam. It was first described and its construction explained in the ninth century by the Arab scholar and musician, Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (c. 801–873). In the eleventh century, the Arab musician and singer at the court of the Fatimid caliph, al-Ẓāhir (1021–1036), Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan Ibn al-Ṭaḥḥān, mentioned it in his, Ḥāwī al-funūn wa-salwat al-maḥzūn (حاوي الفنون وسلوة المحزون ‘Compendium of the arts to comfort sad hearts’).
The Arabian oud, like that used in Egypt, must not be confused with the ancient Egyptian flute. The first has long neck while the latter has a short neck, in addition to other dissimilarities, e.g., the Egyptian long lute’s neck is made from a stick that pierces the body and has fewer strings. Reputable musicologists, such as Curt Sacks and Douglas Alton Smith, warn us not to confuse the two; that they should be distinguished from each other; that the long-necked variety should not be called lute at all because it existed for at least a millennium before the appearance of the short-necked instrument that eventually evolved into what is now known the lute (in other words, oud has not developed from the ancient Egyptian long-necked lute).[1]
Musical fresco from the Tomb of Nakht (TT52) in the Theban Necropolis, opposite Luxor. It dates back to the Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1350 BC), and shows the musicians of Amun (the one in the middle holding a long-necked lute)
The Egyptian lute produces different sounds and tunes than those produced by the Arabian lute. This is unsurprising since they are two different instruments with different construction and history. Below is a trial to produce the sounds of the ancient Egyptian lute:.
The least one can say about using oud and Arabic-Islamic music in Coptic hymns is bizarre. It may be acceptable if one does not regard himself or herself as a Copt with unique culture and tradition, and sees themselves as Arab Christian. Sadly, many Copts who converted to Protestantism feel in this way. But for a Copt, who still sees himself or herself as a Copt with all that entails, singing hymns and Coptic songs in Arab-Islamic tunes sounds odd, and in the last analysis represents an opening of our national gates for Arab and Islamic acculturalisation to flood in.
This is not a call not to listen, or even enjoy foreign music, including some Arab music, but it is always worth to be aware of your own identity and your own musical culture; and to guard yourself against being taken over by foreign influences, particularly if these influences are of those who are your historical oppressors.
___________________________
[1] See: The History of Musical Instruments by Curt Sachs (New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1940), pp. 251-253; and A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance by Douglas Alton Smith (US, The Lute Society of America, 2002).