We love the oud here at Ethnic Musical, who wouldn’t? The gorgeous tear-drop shaped body, smoothed by the no-fret structure. It is, without a doubt, beautiful. And the sound this instrument produces is no different.
Now, if you are just getting started on your journey to becoming the greatest oud player, you have to listen to the 5 best Arabic oud players of all time. Of course, “best” is always subjective but, we can guarantee that these guys are at the top of their game.
5 Most Famous Oud Players
While other fantastic musicians know their way around an Arabic oud, you can’t go wrong with our 5 down below.
1. George Mgrdichian
Interestingly, George Mgridichian was a clarinettist originally. However, he is the sole person praised for bringing the oud into venues such as Carnegie Hall.
His whole life was dedicated to music. He achieved both a bachelor’s and master’s degree before he made his debut in New York City. From here, Mgrdichian was offered the chance to play with the New York Philharmonic — imagine the pure elation! Amazingly, this was the first time that an oud was sharing the spotlight with a classical orchestra.
While Mgrdichian has done so many great things throughout his life, the biggest one to note (in our humble opinion) is that he brought the oud into jazz music. This might not seem so astounding but he was the first person to do it. There is no way we couldn’t keep him off our 5 best Arabic oud players list.
2. Yurdal Tokcan
Having an envy-worthy name isn’t the only thing you can blame Yurdal Tokcan for! To this day, he remains at the top of the Oud Players chain.
Unlike George Mgrdichian who we just discussed, Tokcan usually performs solo. But that hasn’t stopped him acquiring some fab opportunities. In fact, he represents Turkey with his oud-playing ability in celebrations/festivals all around the globe.
While he tends to stick to traditional playing styles — we can’t blame him, they are beautiful — Tokcan does throw in some brand-new techniques. Honestly, we couldn’t replicate him if we tried!
3. Farid El Atrache
Farid El Atrache was an Egyptian/Syrian oud player and an actor. Yes, he was extremely talented (quite the one to be jealous of really).
The King of the Oud (as he was called on many occasions) had an astounding 40-year long career to his name. Within this time, he recorded countless songs (over 500, to be more specific), and developed a style that was unique to him. Typically, he featured the grounding, traditional Arabic playing style in his music.
Atrache mastered this instrument and truly knew it like the back of his hand.
4. Ara Dinkjian
Ask any oud player in the world if they know of Ara Dinkjian and they will say, “yes, obviously”. His songs are listened to on every continent. We challenge you to find an oud enthusiast who hasn’t heard at least a few of Dinkjian’s tracks.
Astonishingly, this guy’s top song (Dinata, Dinata) was played during the final act of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Not to mention the fact that his songs have been translated in almost every language and recorded by world-famous artists!
Dinkjian has so many notable accolades that we wouldn’t have time to talk about anyone else if we tried. But, we can’t move on to our final man without mentioning that Dinkjian was the sole founder of Night Ark. We know — he was quite the dream catcher!
5. Naseer Shamma
We’ve come to the last Arabic oud player on our list. Don’t fret (see what we did there?), we are finishing strong.
Not only was Naseer Shamma a world-renowned oud player, but he was also a Kurdish musician and a poet too! Fantastically, he also founded the Arabic Oud House located in Cairo.
If you were to compare Shamma’s oud playing style to the others we’ve spoken about here, you’d notice a difference. His technique and, therefore sound, has a slight tinge of uniqueness that adds to his performances.
Don’t Stop Here
There are so many musicians who spark the delight in us that we couldn’t get to mention. While this is sad, we know that all you passionate oud enthusiasts won’t just stop at our 5 best Arabic oud players.
Keep going, there is so much great music to discover.
Ethnic Musical
6 thoughts on “5 Best Oud Players”
Najib Takieddine says:
I play both oud and bouzoq. Five WELL KNOWN oud players I can understand, five BEST oud players is (excuse me ) ridiculous ! Where would you rank Sherif Muhiddin (Targan) Haydar, Jamil and Munir Bashir, Salman Shukur (Iraq) Saliba Qatrib, Farid Ghosson, Baheej Miqati (Lebanon) Abdel Aziz Abdallah (Algeria), Hamzah El Din (Nubia) Mohammad El Qassabji, Riad El Sonbati (Egypt) Kadri Sençalar, Udi Hrant Kenkulyan (Turkey) and Omar Naqushabandi (Syria) ?!
I respect Ara Dinkjian and Naseer Shamma but Ara’s not in the top tier and Nasseer is a mutant of oud techniques who’s been marketed very well . How can you list them and disregard Simon Chahine, Anwar Abraham, Rabii Abou Khalil, Charbel Rouhana and Omar Bashir ?! Stay away from BEST OF lists, they’re always a fiasco.
I think that George Mgrdician you mention is the same person I knew in the mid 60’s in greenwich village when he played at the cafe Feejon, where I was a waitress..I had never known of the Oud and loved that sound since then. For some reason I googled George today to see what happened with his life and found out he died a number of years ago..He was an extremely sweet man and an amazing musician…and I discovered your web site…thank you
Wow, I truly appreciate your very informed answer filled with the names of great Oud players that I need to check out. I had heard of only a couple that you mentioned. 🙏 Thank you!
Concert Arabic Oud Pamela Mother of Pearl by Feramis Usta
I am very happy with my oud. It arrived well packaged, wrapped, and in it's case. Upon opening and initial inspection I observed it was well made, it tuned easily, the tuning pegs turn with ease and the strings are great. The Mother of Pearl is beautiful and the finish on the oud looks wonderful. After playing it I really began to hear how wonderful it sounds. I took it a to my local luthier for a professional inspection and he said "it is well made" and "a beautiful piece of work." Thank you Daniel for taking care of an unforeseen delay at customs and being responsive and timely throughout the entire process. This is my second oud purchase form Ethnic Musical. I will continue to buy my ouds from Ethnic Musical and suggest others do as well because of the high quality instruments, professional service, and fine craftsmanship!
I play both oud and bouzoq. Five WELL KNOWN oud players I can understand, five BEST oud players is (excuse me ) ridiculous ! Where would you rank Sherif Muhiddin (Targan) Haydar, Jamil and Munir Bashir, Salman Shukur (Iraq) Saliba Qatrib, Farid Ghosson, Baheej Miqati (Lebanon) Abdel Aziz Abdallah (Algeria), Hamzah El Din (Nubia) Mohammad El Qassabji, Riad El Sonbati (Egypt) Kadri Sençalar, Udi Hrant Kenkulyan (Turkey) and Omar Naqushabandi (Syria) ?!
I respect Ara Dinkjian and Naseer Shamma but Ara’s not in the top tier and Nasseer is a mutant of oud techniques who’s been marketed very well . How can you list them and disregard Simon Chahine, Anwar Abraham, Rabii Abou Khalil, Charbel Rouhana and Omar Bashir ?! Stay away from BEST OF lists, they’re always a fiasco.
I think that George Mgrdician you mention is the same person I knew in the mid 60’s in greenwich village when he played at the cafe Feejon, where I was a waitress..I had never known of the Oud and loved that sound since then. For some reason I googled George today to see what happened with his life and found out he died a number of years ago..He was an extremely sweet man and an amazing musician…and I discovered your web site…thank you
Wow, I truly appreciate your very informed answer filled with the names of great Oud players that I need to check out. I had heard of only a couple that you mentioned. 🙏 Thank you!
No outstanding woman oud players?
Please share with us if you know them. We’ll be happy to update the aricle
Sure there are. The ones that come to mind are Armenian oud player Mary Goshtigian , Turkish player Hamiyet Yuceses , Omani player Amal Waqar