Middle Eastern music of the oud

Perhaps the most important instrument to Middle Eastern music is the oud. Predecessor of the western lute, the oud is characterized by its lack of frets, allowing for sounds similar to both the fretless Japanese shamisen and the fretted western lute.

Of course the sound of the oud is truly unique to itself, and drawing any further comparisons would be an injustice to the originality of the instrument. In this video of instrumental Arabic music, the oud finds itself center stage with the accompaniment of the guitar, flute, drums and other world instruments. After viewing, Click Here to check out another unique string instrument.

Djembe African hand drum solo

Every good djembe sounds a bit different than any other, it is this unique quality that makes the djembe great. I like the deep bass sound that comes with this djembe, check it out.

After the video, click here to see a djembe drum circle.

Didgeridoo of Aboriginal Australia

The remarkable thing about the didgeridoo is that pretty much everything about the instrument is plain strange.

I mean, traditionally the didgeridoo is crafted by termites as they eat and hollow out the inside of a eucalyptus or bamboo trunk, the origin of the instrument is of the Australian Aborigine, the name itself seems to be an onomatopoeia, and the unusual technique of circular-breathing is often used to allow for continuous play. Definitely unique among instruments.

Some modern versions of the didgeridoo are made of pvc pipe, and while these produce an interesting sound in their own right, these of course pale in comparison to the original (or aboriginal as it were…).

After the video, click here to check out another world music instrument.

Music of the Ancient Ocarina

Dating back at least 12,000 years to ancient Chinese, Mayan and Aztec cultures, the ocarina is one of the oldest known musical wind instruments. Made of any kind of hollowed vessel, just about anything can be turned into an ocarina. Most commonly, ocarinas are made of wood or ceramic, but they have been known to be made out of anything from carrots to sea shells too.

Interesting that two civilizations across the world from each other would develop practically the same instrument at pretty much the same time, eh?

What makes them unique is that, unlike other flute-like instruments, the tone of the ocarina is produced by the percentage of the surface covered, not the location of the holes themselves. That and the fact that most all ocarinas are hand-made, and so no two of these are the same.

After the video, check out this other world music instrument.

Djembe Drum Circle

An African musical instrument, search the Internet and find that this djembe drum circle video is one of the greatest displays of percussion out there. It is remarkable that the group seems to be comprised primarily of individuals of European descent, as this just goes to show how true it is, the language of music is absolutely Universal.

After the video, check out this video of another percussion instrument.