Marcel Khalife was born in 1950 in Lebanon. He is a singer songwriter of Lebanese origin. Khalife plays the oud, an Arabic take on the lute. In 1970 to 1975 he taught at "The conservatory" in Beirut. He founded the Al Mayadeen Ensemble in 1976 and gained fame throughout the world for such songs as Ummi, Rita w'al-Bundaqiya, and Jawaz al-Safr. These songs were based on the poems of Mahmoud Darwish. In the year of 1999 he was awarded the Palestine Award for Music. In return, to show his gratitude he donated a large sum of his proceedings to the Conseravtory of Music, in Birzeit university in Palestine. He was named a UNESCO artist for peace in 2005. He also has a son, Bachar Khalife who is also a renown oud player,
The album
A very sophisticated blend of middle Eastern oud with piano, bass and vibraphone. Marcel Khalife is a virtuosic oud player. He has gathered together an international group of instrumentalists who play piano, violin, vibraphone and bass. The whole cast are an asset in themselves Rami Khalife on piano, Peter Herbert on Double Bass, Bachar Khalife doing Percussion. Many interesting scales are explored throughout the record rendering this album a truely admirable mixture of western and eastern jazz.
In the year of 1999 he was awarded the Palestine Award for Music. In return, to show his gratitude he donated a large sum of his proceedings to the Conseravtory of Music, in Birzeit university in Palestine. He was named a UNESCO artist for peace in 2005. He also has a son, Bachar Khalife who is also a renown oud player,
The album
A very sophisticated blend of middle Eastern oud with piano, bass and vibraphone. Marcel Khalife is a virtuosic oud player. He has gathered together an international group of instrumentalists who play piano, violin, vibraphone and bass. The whole cast are an asset in themselves Rami Khalife on piano, Peter Herbert on Double Bass, Bachar Khalife doing Percussion. Many interesting scales are explored throughout the record rendering this album a truely admirable mixture of western and eastern jazz.