17 August 1957, Beirut, Lebanon. From early childhood, Abou-Khalil played the oud, a fretless string instrument, not unlike the lute. He studied in Beirut with Georges Farah becoming highly skilled on the instrument, for which he later composed much of his repertoire. When he was in his early twenties he moved to Germany, settling in Munich, which is where he studied classical flute with Walther Theurer at the Academy of Music. From early in his career, Abou-Khalil filled his performances with a pleasing blend of Middle Eastern and western musical forms. He also makes use of time signatures that are uncommon to most western ears. More than any other musician, he has helped make the oud a staple instrument of what has become known as world jazz. The jazz touches he brings to the traditional Arab forms are largely contemporary, often working in forms that resemble those adopted by American jazzmen who had in their turn drawn upon eastern music for their inspiration. Thus, Abou-Khalil’s work contains many elements that, while otherworldly, carry echoes of familiarity to western jazz audiences.
Among musicians with whom Abou-Khalil has played and sometimes recorded are Alexander Balanescu, Luciano Biondini, Sonny Fortune, Chris Karrer, Joachim Kühn, Howard Levy, Charlie Mariano, Glen Moore, Michael Reissler, Ramesh Shotam, Steve Swallow, Jakob Wertheim and Kenny Wheeler. In 2003 Abou-Khalil visited China, where he played at the Beijing Jazz Festival. In addition to his public performances, he also worked on the score for Yara (1998), a German film directed by Yilmaz Arslan. On television, Abou-Khalil was host of the 13-part documentary series, Visions Of Music, music from which was released by Enja Records.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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17 August 1957, Beirut, Lebanon. From early childhood, Abou-Khalil played the oud, a fretless string instrument, not unlike the lute. He studied in Beirut with Georges Farah becoming highly skilled on the instrument, for which he later composed much of his repertoire. When he was in his early twenties he moved to Germany, settling in Munich, which is where he studied classical flute with Walther Theurer at the Academy of Music. From early in his career, Abou-Khalil filled his performances with a pleasing blend of Middle Eastern and western musical forms. He also makes use of time signatures that are uncommon to most western ears. More than any other musician, he has helped make the oud a staple instrument of what has become known as world jazz. The jazz touches he brings to the traditional Arab forms are largely contemporary, often working in forms that resemble those adopted by American jazzmen who had in their turn drawn upon eastern music for their inspiration. Thus, Abou-Khalil’s work contains many elements that, while otherworldly, carry echoes of familiarity to western jazz audiences.