oud

Marcel Khalifé (Arabic: مرسيل خليفة) was born in 1950 in Amchit, Mount-Lebanon. He studied the oud (the Arabic lute) at the Beirut National conservatory. His music works around the classical Arabic oud but also includes jazz piano and many other influences. His playing techniques expand far outside those of classical oud playing, however, and he is attributed for having greatly expanded the horizons of this traditional Arabic instrument.

Read more about Marcel Khalife on Last.fm.

Algeria’s Mehdi Haddab has radically transformed the image of the oud by plugging in and amplifying the ancient fretless lute, bringing rock’n’roll attitude to an instrument at the core of traditional Arabic music. With bassist Pascal Teillet and beat mistress Hermione Frank, Haddab references everything from the Cure and the Chemical Brothers to Algerian rai.

Anouar Brahem (Arabic: أنور ابراهم) is a Tunisian oud (middle eastern lute) player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. Performing for primarily a jazz audience, he fuses arabic classical music, folk music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991 after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s. Brahem began studying the oud at age 10 under the tutelage of Ali Sitri at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. In 1987, after six years in Paris, he spent two years as the director of the Ensemble Musical De Ia Ville De Tunis.

The Soviets are a 5-piece Indie/Rock band from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. With influences ranging from the Stone Roses to Astral Pilot via Kings of Leon, the band fuses genres to create a distinctive and unique sound.
Launching their own label - Reckless General Records - in early 2009, The Soviets are a band to look out for. The name is also used by an Alt. Rock band from Omagh.