Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival 2010 to Feature Charbel Rouhana

Jan. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Charbel Rouhana’s remarkable appearance with his all-new fusion project will take place on February 17th, 2010 at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre

Charbel Rouhana is known to be one of the finest Oud players in Lebanon. He pursued his music education to obtain his diploma in Oud instrumentation in 1986 and his M.A. in musicology in 1987.

One of his major achievements is establishing a new methodology in playing the Oud. This method was published and adopted by the National Conservatory of Music and the Faculty of Music in the Holy Spirit University, where he has been teaching since 1986.

During the 80's he was member of Al-Mayadine ensemble, playing alongside Marcel Khalife. Rouhana has been performing live events since 1984, touring several countries, venues, and festivals. He also collaborated in composing musicals for choreographer Abdul Haleem Caracalla's shows. In addition to his several several national awards, Charbel also won the first prize at the Hirayama Competition in 1995 in Japan for Best Composition entitled "Hymn of Peace".

According to Charbel, Oriental-Arabic music is facing a renaissance period incarnated by traditional instruments especially the Oud, which is ancient and always related to traditional singing and classical instrumental Arabic music. Charbel's musical writings succeeded in transforming this Arabic traditional instrument into a multinational, modern instrument able to communicate with other cultures and music, with an emphasis on the Oriental-Arabic style.

Charbel has also released several studio albums, including one of his most known albums "Dangerous in which he sang, and didn't play only music and it was released in 2006. Charbel's latest project is "Handmade", in which he only played music. In this last album, he worked with the Beirut Oriental Ensemble and also performed many concerts with the band, including his first concert series for the album, which was held at the "Al Madina" Theater.

Charbel will be a great attraction for a huge crowd in the UAE, and this year we were keen to add the oriental and fusion touch to the festival; and I believe that Charbel is one of the best Arab artists who has the ability to blend oriental and western in an appealing method to both cultures” declared Anthony Younes, founder and organizer of the festival.


Tickets will be available online through boxofficeme.com, ticketingboxoffice.com and timeouttickets.com, and all Virgin Megastores outlets in UAE starting January 13th, 2010. For more details, please visit dubaijazzfest.com or call Chillout Productions on 04 3911196.

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About Chillout Productions:
Chillout Productions, founders, and organizers of the Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival acquired the 2009 What’s On Award for the 3rd time, after two consecutive years 2006 & 2007, and the Middle East Award for "The Best Public Entertainment Event in The Middle East 2008 as part of the Event 360 and the award for Best Marketing of an Event in 2009 with several other nominations.
Skywards Dubai International Jazz Festival has grown to become an annual entertainment icon in the UAE and the whole region, drawing fans from all around the world. Attendance in 2006 topped 21,500, 25,000 in 2007 and 28,500 music lovers for the 2008 edition, with a scoring record of 30,000 fans in 2009 throughout 10 days. Each year, the festival features a diversified international line-up of legendary Grammy award-winning artists and critically acclaimed Jazz, R&B, Pop, Rock, Indie and contemporary groups.