Simon Shaheen
(Arabic: ????? ?????
; b. Tarshiha, Upper Galilee, Israel, 1955) is a American oud and violin virtuoso and composer.
At the age of 2, Shaheen moved with his family to Haifa, but he spent most of the weekends in Tarshiha, an Israeli Arab town.
The Shaheen family is known for its musicality.
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SIMON SHAHEEN TICKETS
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Music career
He began playing the oud at 5, and the violin shortly thereafter. Following high school, he attended
Tel Aviv University, earning degrees in Arabic literature and music performance. He later pursued further studies at
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In
1980 he emigrated to the
United States to study music at the
Manhattan School of Music and
Columbia University, eventually becoming a U.S. citizen.
He formed the
Near Eastern Music Ensemble, which performs classical
Arabic music, and organized annual Arabic music retreats and arts festivals.
Shaheen, a
Catholic Arab, lives in
New York City, where he leads an Arabic ensemble called Qantara which he formed. Qantara melds
jazz,
pop, and
western classical music with Arabic elements.
In
1994 he received a
National Heritage Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts.
In addition to his work in traditional and classical Arabic music, Shaheen has participated in many cross-cultural musical projects, including performing with producer
Bill Laswell,
Colombian singer
Soraya,
Henry Threadgill,
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and with
Jewish klezmer musicians
The Klezmatics.
Select discography
- 1990 - Music of Waheeb
, Mango/Island/PolyGram
- 1990 - The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab
, Axiom/Island/PolyGram
- 1992 - Turath (Heritage)
, CMP
- 1993 - Taqasim: Art of Improvisation in Arabic Music
- 2001 - Blue Flame
, Ark 21/Universal