Award-winning violinist, composer and musical instructor Layth Sidiq is a Jordanian artist with Iraqi roots. He started his musical education at the National Music Conservatory in Amman with Timur Ibrahimov.
At the age of 11, he gave his first major solo performance with the European Chamber String Orchestra in front of Jordanian royalty.
Layth Sidiq moved to the United States to study at the Berklee College of Music, where he received his bachelor’s degree in performance in 2014. Later, he went on to receive his master’s degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in 2016.
He appears on multiple award-winning albums and his first album, “Son of Tigris,” was performed for the first time at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2016.
In 2018, Layth Sidiq won second prize at the Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition and was the first and only Arab to ever participate. In 2019, in collaboration with Carnatic vocalist Rohith Jayaraman, he released an EP titled “Hamsa” that brought together Arab and Carnatic music and presented an innovative sound for both musical forms rooted in the past and the future.
During 2020, he won the Boston Music Award for ‘Best International Artist’ of the year. After that, he collaborated with the Kayany Foundation in Lebanon, an organization that runs educational programs for Syrian refugee children. He also directs the Center for Arabic Culture’s Youth Orchestra Program in Boston and was a faculty member at Carnegie Hall’s Music Educators Workshop.
Layth is the current artistic director of the New York Arabic Orchestra, and has shared the stage with such major artists as Simon Shaheen, Danilo Perez, and Jack DeJohnette. He has appeared around the world at renowned festivals and cultural institutions, including the London Jazz Festival, Boston Symphony Hall, the world music conference WOMEX, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and Carnegie Hall.
Discography:
Son of Tigris (2016)
Hamsa, with Rohith Jayaraman (2019)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.