If you hear the delicate sounds of an Arabic lute during November and December, chances are you're hearing the sound of the Oud Festival, a yearly multi-venue happening organized by the Confederation House as a tribute to its titular instrument, plucked across the Mediterranean and Middle East by Jew, Arab, Turk and Greek alike. The oud may not bring peace, but at least it lets us know what it sounds like.

The Festival kicks off with "The Golden Age" at the Jerusalem Theatre, a show devoted to oudtastic musical arrangements of the devotional poetry of medieval Jewish Renaissance man Yehuda Halevi, performed by Israeli pop star Etti Ankri and her crack band.