Omar Shalash builds oriental lutes

28 April 2025, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle: Instrument maker, filmmaker and film music producer Omar Shalash stands in his small workshop with an oud, also known as an oriental lute, in the process of being made. Since the beginning of the year, the 36-year-old Palestinian, who has lived in Germany since 2008 and studied media studies and music here, has been self-employed with his hobby - building ouds. He spends up to 250 hours working on one of the instruments, for which he uses both local and valuable exotic woods. Music lovers in Germany, his home country and Brazil already play his ouds. The playing and making of the medieval instrument, which originated in the Orient, was added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2022. Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch/dpa (Photo by Waltraud Grubitzsch/picture alliance via Getty Images)