Carmen Zurl and Julian Pefanis from Oprtalj had a big party last night. They invited Renata Vrtarić and me from Motovun. By the time we arrived, almost everyone was there already. Not long afterwards, a friend of a friend of the hosts pulled out a lute and started strumming his exquisitely made instrument. “Oud,” he said. “It was made for me in 2001 by a master craftsman from Istanbul.” His playing and singing were masterful, too. “As far as I am concerned,” I told him at some point, “the guitar sounds like a castrated oud.” He grinned at me. “And I love instruments with balls,” I grinned back. So much so that this morning I find myself ferreting through my vast collection of compact disks in search of the instrument that can be found in many countries in and around the Middle East. I found quite a few, but I also stumbled upon a compact disk with guitar music. Played by Gypsies, it comes from Spain. “I bet they played oud once upon a time,” I mumbled to myself. Before 1492, that is.