In a quiet alley in Beirut, Ali Al-Hallaq opens the door of his workshop every morning and says,
“This shop represents our old heritage. That’s why I hold on to it—and why I’m still here today.”
From a young age, he grew up among his carpenter brothers, watching them and learning from them. He would cut small pieces, smooth them, and spend long hours sanding—because that was the stage when he felt the wood begin to “speak.” “Wood is not a silent material,” he says. “If you are patient with it, it speaks.”
The first time he saw the oud, he understood that what he had learned in carpentry was directly connected to this instrument. He wasn’t only thinking about playing it, but about how it was made. When he later entered the music institute in Beirut and stood before a qanun for the first time, he said without hesitation, “When I saw the qanun, my heart fluttered.” From there, his new journey into instrument-making began.
Ali moves between old lumber yards, searching for aged wood, setting some pieces aside for months before touching them. Each instrument passes through long stages: measuring, shaping, waiting, and sound testing. He never rushes—because, in his view, sound is born slowly.
The idea of the workshop grew out of this craft. From a small corner where he once repaired instruments, it became a space filled with instruments made by his own hands. Over time, people began to say:
“If you want to repair an oud, there’s no one but Ali Al-Hallaq.”
With the spread of keyboards and electronic instruments, the status of traditional Eastern instruments declined. But Ali met this challenge by opening his workshop to young people, teaching them how an instrument is made—and how to listen to its sound before playing it. Today, he doesn’t only make instruments; he passes on its knowledge.
His day begins and ends with wood. Sometimes he builds an instrument from scratch, sometimes he repairs, and sometimes he teaches. And as long as his hands can still hold wood, Ali will continue to make instruments and believes true sound begins here.
