To work wood, cut it, sand it, until it becomes a musical instrument, it takes talent. It is a kind of magic, in which craft, tradition, history, music and a lot of passion are mixed. Without forgetting patience, meticulousness and a certain ability to see beyond the raw material in your hands, and to glimpse in it what it will become: in the case of the young Milad, the final magic will have the shapes and above all the sound of an oud.
What is oud ?
The oud is a stringed musical instrument, belonging to the short-necked lute family, and is very popular in Middle Eastern and North African music. In Arabic, the term ūd means “wood”.
It is considered one of the oldest instruments in human history. Milad started making oud when he was in high school, and hasn’t stopped since.
Milad and the art of making oud
Milad is 26 years old and lives in Homs , Syria. He studies at the Conservatory and works in a musical craft workshop where he makes this ancient string instrument: “I had a passion for woodworking and I liked to build ouds, because I can play them and I also wanted to study them.”
Thus Milad’s two activities run parallel: the boy studies music and also learns to model his favorite instrument . However, he faces an obstacle: in the laboratory he can only use the limited resources available. Wood, above all, is never enough. How can this problem be overcome?
RestarT’s support
“I needed support to purchase materials and wood, so when I heard about the RestarT project I applied.”
Milad finally finds a new way to get oud production off the ground by turning to the AMU project which provides support to small production activities in Syria, providing concrete assistance to those who want to continue living and working in the country.
These are micro-entrepreneurship projects, which are constantly supported by a local team that provides technical and psycho-social support.
Milad is provided with raw wood and suitable tools. The boy immediately realizes that the advantage is great: “My work has improved: before I had to wait to sell at least two ouds to have a sum that would allow me to make some purchases for the laboratory, now no more. The business is going so well that I have also managed to lower the selling prices and consequently I have more customers”.
Oud and reciprocity
The protagonists of the project, when they are admitted to RestarT, commit to return 50 percent of what they received in money, and the remainder in the form of goods and services to the community, thus creating a virtuous circle of mutual help and support.
Milad also generously spends himself to strengthen this sense of solidarity: “I managed to teach the art of making the oud for free to a young man who wanted to.”