Outi (short-necked lute)
The outi (from the Arabic ud, meaning wood) has a large, pear-shaped soundbox, a short, wide neck without frets,
a head almost at right-angles to the neck, and lateral pegs. It is played with a plectrum, or penna,
formerly fashioned from the bark of the cherry tree.
The outi is played throughout Greece only to a limited extent. It was exclusively played by the Greeks of Asia
Minor and Constantinople, who were ignorant of the Greek long-necked lute. In the wake of the Greco-Turkish
War of 1922 and the subsequent exchange of ethnic populations between the two countries, the presence of the outi in
Greece was more widespread, especially at those feasts of the Asia Minor refugees and among those musical groups
that also performed Turkish music.
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