The journey this box set proposes expands in time (from 1904 to the mid1940s), space (from Maghreb to Iraq and the Gulf area), and dwells on different types of original material. AMAR has digitalized 78rpm records, acoustic as well as electric, including a non-commercial 78rpm transfer of an Egyptian State Radio program (CD2-2) dating back to 1934 — it is unknown whether this transfer on a metallic disc covered with a thin layer of shellac was captured at the Radio station itself or using a 78rpm home-recording device. The material of CD1 is exclusively composed of acoustic recordings, while CD2 presents electrically recorded pieces. They are complemented by a DVD documenting a pioneering ‘ῡd manufacturing experience of the master oud maker Albert Mansour as an endeavor to preserve and develop the heritage of luthiers, and benefit from all their experiences to date.

Recordings were thus selected in order to present the various stages of commercial recording and document the technical progress achieved. Testimony to this technical evolution are the two recordings of the Cairene ‘ūd virtuoso Amīn Bey al-Mahdī (CD2, 1&2): the first one from a 1927 Ode on Company commercial electric record,and the other one the 1934 radio transfer we alluded to : the listener easily notes the progress achieved in a mere seven years and enjoys the revelation of frequencies that were muffled in the earlier stages of electric recording, and totally suppressed in the previous acoustic ones.