Profile

  • Ziad was born in 1964 in Aleppo, Syria, to a Syrian mother and a Palestinian father. Both his mother and his grandmother played the oud and it was from them that he received his first lessons. Later he studied under Bahjat Durmosh and the great Arab music theorist (maqam) Rashid al Sufi.
  • He made his professional debut in 1983, playing with Sabab al arube, a group affiliated to the Aleppo Fine Arts Association, and went on to play the oud with other musicians and singers from Aleppo at various Syrian festivals.
  • Since 1988 he has made his home in Greece, pursuing his own lines of musical inquiry, taking part in concerts, and playing at WOMAD (2002), the Samothraki World Music Festival (2005), the International Oud Meeting organised by En Chordais, Thessaloniki (2002), the Ayios Lavrendios Music Village, Pilio (2008), the Thessaloniki State Conservatory (1997), and the Athens Concert Hall (2008).
  • He has also played abroad, at the Helsinki Festival in Finland (1993), the Belgrade Guitar Art Festival in Serbia (2005), and the Scala di Pescara in Italy (2007).
  • In 1993 Ziad composed music for a production of Albert Camus’ The Plague by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), which was later also presented by the Swedish Broadcasting Company (SR).
  • He has collaborated with many musicians and singers, including Ross Daly, Yorgos Dalaras, Glykeria, Vassilis Soukas, Haig Yazdjian, Loudovikos ton Anoyion, Sokratis Malamas, and Eleni Tsaligopoulou.
  • In 2000 he brought out a CD titled Mawjet Tarab.
  • He has given seminars at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Ayios Lavrendios Music Village on Pilio and master classes for the En Chordais cultural organisation. He also teaches the oud at beginners and advanced level.

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