Page 135 - Post Summit_2019_AV

Rabih Abou-Khalil and band Lebanese composer, oud player and conductor Rabih Abou-Khalil was featured in a special Culture Summit evening performance at the Cultural Foundation Amphitheatre. No stranger to crossing genres, Abou-Khalil has recorded with traditional Arabic musicians, classical string quartets, Armenian musicians, Fado singers and some of the greatest names in jazz. Recognised for the quality of the bands and orchestras he collaborates with, Abou-Khalil now plays mainly with a trio strongly influenced by Mediterranean culture, with an accordionist from Rome and a drummer specialised in Turkish frame drums. With this multicultural group, Abou- Khalil performed for an hour for the Culture Summit attendees, presenting a musical world rooted in eastern and western traditions but revisited by modern jazz rhythms. Abou-Khalil studied the oud at the Beirut conservatory under Georges Farah, before moving to Germany where he studied classical flute at the Academy of Music in Munich, under Walther Theurer. His unique blend of traditional Arab music with western jazz, rock and classical has earned Abou-Khalil praise such as "a world musician years before the phrase became a label”. His career has highlighted the oud as a vehicle of world fusion music. 131