Composer, guitarist & ud player Amos Hoffman started as a classical guitar player. On his 8th birthday, his father gave him an ud as a…
View More Artist Profiles: Amos HoffmanTag: Arabic music
Artist Profiles: Lubna Salame
Lubna Salame was born in Haifa and now lives in Kfar Yassif. She is a resident singer with the Nazareth Orchestra. As a child, she…
View More Artist Profiles: Lubna SalameArtist Profiles: Muhammad Abu Ajaj
Muhammad Abu Ajaj was born in 1955 in Kseife. It was from his father’s radio, in the tent that he was born, where Muhammad heard…
View More Artist Profiles: Muhammad Abu AjajArtist Profiles: Naseer Shamma
Naseer Shamma was born in 1963 in Kut, a village on the Tigris River in Iraq. He began studying the ud at the age of…
View More Artist Profiles: Naseer ShammaArtist Profiles: Kazem Al-Saher
Iraqi singer Kazem Al-Saher (also spelled Al-Sahir) began composing at the age of 12, reaching into classical forms and themes. Programmers at Iraqi television recognized…
View More Artist Profiles: Kazem Al-SaherArtist Profiles: Omar Bashir
Omar Bashir carries on the tradition of his famed father, Munir Bashir, the preeminent ‘ud (lute) player and one of the world’s most esteemed cultural…
View More Artist Profiles: Omar BashirArtist Profiles: Sawt El Atlas
Sawt El Atlas (Voices of the Atlas) was fronted by the warm voices of singers Kamel and Mounir. The ten-piece band combined Middle Eastern, rai,…
View More Artist Profiles: Sawt El AtlasRise of the Shamstep
47Soul – Balfron Promise (Cooking Vinyl, 2018) Balfron Promise is an album by 47Soul, a shamstep band that has been getting a lot of attention…
View More Rise of the ShamstepFascinating Ud and Santur Encounters
Rahim AlHaj Trio – One Sky (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2018) Ud virtuoso Rahim AlHaj presents a new set of works in trio format. His colleagues…
View More Fascinating Ud and Santur EncountersDeeply Mesmerizing Ud
Smadj – Solotronic (Whirling Wolf, 2017) Solotronic is the new solo album by Smadj (Jean-Pierre Smadja), a French-Tunisian artist who has taken the ud (Arabic…
View More Deeply Mesmerizing Ud