Photo by Tom Pich

Nadeem Dlaikan was born in Alai, Lebanon in 1941, and as a child began playing the ney, a reed flute often played by shepherds. It was in fact one night in a rural village, while accompanying his father on a business trip, that Dlaikan first heard the nye and fell under its spell. Although his family discouraged him from playing this instrument with humble, rural associations, he persisted and even found ways to make his own flutes out of locally grown reeds.

Dlaikan began studying with Naim Bitar, the country's premiere flutist at the Lebanese Conservatory. Upon graduation Dlaikan moved to Beirut, and traveled frequently throughout the Middle East as part of Lebanon's best-known folk troupe. In 1969, a staff member at the U.S. Embassy heard him playing at a Fourth of July party and encouraged him to perform in the United States. Dlaikan first arrived to the U.S. as a back-up musician for Lebanese pop singer Samira Tawfik.

Eventually Dlaikan settled in Detroit, home to the largest and most diverse Arab community in the country. Sally Howell of the University of Michigan describes the eclectic nature of musical groups in the Detroit/Dearborn area: "An ensemble of such musicians may contain a self-taught Palestinian American, a recently arrived Lebanese who was trained by an uncle in a very traditional setting, an Iraqi Christian who picked up his love of music in an Iraqi garage band, and a Turk who is still struggling to learn enough Arabic to keep up with what is being said." Within this cultural mix, Dlaikan is recognized as a keeper of tradition, and the artistic glue that holds both musical groups and the community together.

Nadeem is highly respected for his musicianship and his teaching activities. In addition to the ney, he plays the munjairah (a wooden horn), mizmar (shepherd's flute) and the mijwiz (a double-reed instrument which sounds like a bagpipe). He conducts musical apprenticeships at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Service and the Michigan State University Museum. Because of the difficulty of the instrument and the fact that each nye can be played in only one key (thus requiring a player to have at least a dozen different flutes), finding dedicated students is a challenge. This is a concern for Nadeem, for the art of the nye is an important part of traditional Lebanese music and heritage.

Nadeem is the only ney maker in the U.S., though he would welcome the chance to pass on his skills. Dlaikan makes flutes for musicians across the U.S. from the reeds that he grows in his own back yard, as well as tuning and restoring instruments sent to him for repair. In 1994, Nadeem was awarded the Michigan Heritage Award and in 2002, the NEA National Heritage Fellowship for his commitment to his music and its continuance, and his willingness to share his skills with others, both in his community and beyond.