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Charbel Rouhana, one of the finest ud players in Lebanon. Born in 1965 in Aamchit (a town north of Beirut), Charbel pursued his music education at the Holy-Spirit University in Kaslib and obtained his Diploma in ud instrumentation in 1986 and his M.A. in Musicology in 1987.
One of his major achievements is establishing a new methodology in playing the ud. This method was published and adopted by the National Conservatory of Music and the Faculty of Music in the Holy Spirit University-where he has been teaching ud courses since 1986 till present.
Charbel Rouhana has been performing live events since 1984, touring several countries, venues, and festivals. He also collaborated in composing musicals for choreographer Abdul Haleem Caracall's shows: "Elissa-The Queen of Carthage"-1995, "Andalusia-Lost Glory" 1997, and "Bleilit Kamar"-1999. Winner of several national awards, Charbel also won the first prize at the Hirayama Competition in 1995 in Japan, for Best Composition entitled "Hymn of Peace".
According to Charbel, Oriental-Arabic music is facing a renaissance period incarnated by traditional instruments especially the ud which is ancient and always related to traditional singing and classical instrumental Arabic music. Charbel's musical writings succeeded in transforming this Arabic traditional instrument into a multinational, modern instrument able to communicate with other cultures and music, with an emphasis on the Oriental-Arabic style. |
