Rabih Abou-Khalil ( ar, ربيع أبو خليل, born August 17, 1957) is an

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

player and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

born in Lebanon, who combines elements of

Arabic music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...

with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, and other styles. He grew up in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and moved to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany, during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

in 1978.

Musical style

Abou-Khalil studied the

at the Beirut conservatory with oudist Georges Farah. After moving to Germany, he studied classical flute at the Academy of Music in

under Walther Theurer. In his compositions and live concerts, he combines elements of

with

, rock, or classical music, and has earned praise as "a world musician years before the phrase became a label". — According to a review of his concert in ''The Guardian'' of 2002, Abou-Khalil "makes the hot,

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and has appeared in music ...

Middle Eastern flavour and the seamless grooves of jazz mingle, as if they were always meant to." In a review of his 2007 album ''Songs For Sad Women,'' the BBC wrote "the characteristic blend of jazz-inflected Arabic melody with subtle rhythms combines into a hypnotic whole, as ever with Abou-Khalil’s fluent oud playing in a central role." Along with

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

ian oud

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

Anouar Brahem Anouar Brahem ( أنور براهم); born on 20 October 1957) is a Tunisian oud player and composer. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field. Performing primarily for a jazz audience, he combines Arabic classical music, folk music and ...

and

Dhafer Youssef Dhafer Youssef ( ar, ظافر يوسف; born 19 November 1967) is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player. Biography Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a muezzin. He calls the radio ...

, he has helped establish the oud as an important instrument of

Ethno jazz Ethno jazz, also known as world jazz, is a subgenre of jazz and world music, developed internationally in the 1950s and '60s and broadly characterized by a combination of traditional jazz and non-Western musical elements. Though occasionally equ ...

and world fusion. Among other musicians, Abou-Khalil has worked with

ARTE Quartett The ARTE Quartett was founded in 1995 by the saxophonists Beat Hofstetter, Sascha Armbruster, Andrea Formenti and Beat Kappeler. Their musical style consists of contemporary music, jazz, and free improvisation. The four musicians have commission ...

(saxophone quartet),

Alexander Bălănescu Alexander Bălănescu () (born 11 June 1954) is a Romanian violinist, and founder of the Balanescu Quartet. Biography Bălănescu was born in Bucharest, and at the age of seven went to the Special School for Music there. His teachers in Romania w ...

(violin), Luciano Biondini (accordion),

Milton Cardona Milton Cardona (November 21, 1944 – September 19, 2014) was a percussionist, vocalist and conga player from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Milton Cardona made well over 1000 recordings, nine of which won Grammies. His career and was highly influence ...

(conga),

Sonny Fortune Cornelius "Sonny" Fortune (May 19, 1939 – October 25, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist. Fortune played soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, clarinet, and flute. Biography He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United Stat ...

(alto saxophone),

Michel Godard Michel Godard is a French avant-garde jazz and classical musician. He plays tuba and the predecessor of the tuba, a brass instrument known as the serpent. Career At 18, Godard was a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio-France. He has ...

(tuba),

Joachim Kühn Joachim Kurt Kühn (born 15 March 1944) is a German jazz pianist. Biography He was born in Leipzig, Germany. Kühn was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition, with Arthur Schmid ...

(piano, alto saxophone),

Howard Levy Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American multi-instrumentalist. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, Levy "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century. ...

(harmonica),

Charlie Mariano Carmine Ugo Mariano (November 12, 1923 – June 16, 2009) was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well. Biography Mariano was born in ...

(alto saxophone),

Gabriele Mirabassi Gabriele Mirabassi is an Italian jazz clarinetist. Career He was born in Perugia and is a graduate of the Morlacchi Conservatory. His teacher told him avoid playing jazz because it would damage his technique, so at home he learned jazz on the ...

(clarinet),

Glen Moore Glen Moore (born October 28, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, who occasionally performs on piano, flute and violin. Moore was born in Portland, Oregon, United States. His performing career began at age 14 with the Young Oregonians in Portlan ...

(bass),

Mark Nauseef Mark Nauseef (born June 11, 1953), in Cortland, New York, is a drummer and percussionist who has enjoyed a varied career, ranging from rock music during the 1970s with his time as a member of the Ian Gillan Band and, temporarily with Thin Li ...

(percussion), Setrak Sarkissian ( darabukka),

Ramesh Shotham Ramesh Shotham (born May 7, 1948 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India) is a percussionist and drummer. Life Ramesh Shotham was born in Madras, South India. He graduated with a degree in zoology from Loyola College, University of Madras. He began his m ...

(Indian percussion),

Steve Swallow Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar. ...

(bass),

Glen Velez Glen Velez (born 1949) is a four-time Grammy winning American percussionist, vocalist, and composer, specializing in frame drums from around the world. He is largely responsible for the increasing popularity of frame drums in the United States an ...

(

frame drum A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth. It is one of the most ancient musical instruments, and perhaps the first drum to be invented. It has a single drumhead that is usually made of rawhide, but man-made mat ...

, percussion), or

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...

(

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

Albums

His only album for the Munich based label ECM was called ''Nafas'' (1988). Since 1990, his albums have been published by

Enja Records Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Jap ...

, Munich. For ''Al-Jadida'' (1992), Abou-Khalil invited alto saxophonist

; ''Blue Camel'' (1992), featured alto saxophonist

and

player Kenny Wheeler. ''Morton's Foot'' (2004) presents Luciano Biondini on accordion and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

n singer Gavino Murgia. ''Journey to the Centre of an Egg'' (2005) features a trio of oud, piano (

, who doubles on

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

) and Jarrod Cagwin on drums. ''Nafas'' and ''Tarab'' make use of the

ney The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern end-blown flute. ''Arabian Waltz'' features Abou-Khalil's compositions for string quartet (performed by the

Balanescu Quartet Balanescu Quartet is an avant-garde string ensemble formed in 1987. Current members are Alexander Bălănescu (violin), James Shenton (violin), Helen Kamminga (viola) and Nick Holland (cello). Group history The Balanescu Quartet is a contemp ...

), along with oud,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

(or

serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

), and frame drums. In 2008, Abou-Khalil released an album entitled "Em Português" ("In Portuguese"), where he mixes

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

with Arabic music with the participation of the fadista

Ricardo Ribeiro Ricardo Abreu Ribeiro (born 27 January 1990) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for U.D. Oliveirense as a goalkeeper. Club career Born in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães, Ribeiro joined local Moreirense FC's youth ranks at the age of 11. He w ...

TV series: Visions of Music

In 1998, Rabih Abou-Khalil hosted the television series ''Visions of Music''. This 13-part documentary series produced by EuroArts Entertainment set out to explore the blending of jazz with different music styles of the world (Caribbean salsa, Brazilian samba, Argentine tango, French musette, Spanish flamenco, Jewish klezmer, New Orleans R&B and Mississippi blues, as well as West African, South African, Indian, and Middle Eastern music) through historical

footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a ( often special) video camera, which typically must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or ...

and interviews with musicians by Abou-Khalil. The music of the TV-series was released on the album ''Visions of Music - World Jazz'' by Enja Records.

Discography

* ''Compositions & Improvisations'' (MMP, 1981) * ''Bitter Harvest'' (MMP, 1984) * ''Between Dusk and Dawn'' (MMP, 1987;

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...

, 1993) * ''Bukra'' (MMP, 1988; Enja, 1994) * ''Nafas'' ( ECM, 1988) * ''Roots & Sprouts'' (MMP/Enja, 1990) * ''World Music Orchestra: East West Suite'' (Granit, 1990) * '' Al-Jadida'' (Enja, 1991) * '' Blue Camel'' (Enja, 1992) * ''

Tarab ''Tarab'' is an album by the Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil, fusing traditional Arab music with jazz, which was recorded in 1992 and released on the Enja label the following year.

'' (Enja, 1993) * '' The Sultan's Picnic'' (Enja, 1994) * '' Arabian Waltz'' (Enja, 1996) * '' Odd Times'' (Enja, 1997) * ''

Yara Yara may refer to: People * YARA (girl group), a Filipino girl group * Yara (given name) * Yara (surname), a Japanese surname * Yara (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese pop singer * Yara (footballer) (born 1964), Brazilian footballer Locations * Y ...

'' (Enja, 1998) * ''

The Cactus of Knowledge ''The Cactus of Knowledge'' is an album by the Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil which was recorded in Germany in 2000 and released on the Enja label the following year. Reception The Allmusic review by David R. Adler stated " ...

'' (Enja, 2001) * '' Il Sospiro'' (Enja, 2002) * ''

Morton's Foot ''Morton's Foot'' is an album by the Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil which was recorded in Germany in 2003 and released on the Enja label. Reception The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek stated "The band on ''Morton's Foot'' is ...

'' (Enja, 2003) * '' Journey to the Centre of an Egg'' (Enja, 2005) * '' Songs for Sad Women'' (Enja, 2007) * '' Em Português'' (Enja, 2008) * ''

Trouble in Jerusalem ''Trouble in Jerusalem'' is an album by the Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil, conceived as a soundtrack to the 1922 German silent film ''Nathan the Wise'', which was recorded in Germany in 2009 and released on the Enja label the ...

'' (Enja, 2010) * ''Hungry People'' (World Village, 2012) * ''The Flood and the Fate of the Fish'', (Enja Records, 2020)

As guest musician

Chris Karrer Christoph "Chris" Karrer (born 20 January 1947, Kempten, Germany) is a German guitarist and composer. He also plays oud, saxophone and violin. He is known as co-founder of the Amon Düül commune and a member of the related and much more commercial ...

: ''Dervish Kish'' (Schneeball/Indigo, 1990/91) * Michael Riessler: ''Heloise'' (Wergo, 1992) *

& Friends: ''Sevent''y (veraBra records, 1993) *

: ''Nude Bass Ascending'' (Intuition, 1996/97) * Ramesh Shotam: ''Madras Special'' (Permission Music, 2002)

Other

* Jakob Wertheim & Rabih Abou-Khalil: ''KopfKino'' cassette (Ohrbuch-Verlag, 1988) * ''The Jazz Club Highlights'' DVD (TDK JAZZ CLUB, 1990) * ''Rabih Abou-Khalil presents Visions of Music - World Jazz'' accompanying TV series (Enja, 1999)

References

External links

Official websiteRabih Abou Khalil at All About JazzFotos Rabih Abou Khalil & Termites at work - 2007 jazzit
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abou-Khalil, Rabih 1957 births Living people ECM Records artists Lebanese musicians Musicians from Beirut Modal jazz oud players Lebanese jazz musicians Lebanese oud players