Rabih Abou-Khalil Group - Live 2026

His albums are prized highlights in the collections of music lovers worldwide - style icons in both musical and visual terms. His concerts are dazzling, highly virtuosic world-music events that have graced countless festivals and tours. After a long wait, his new album "The Flood and the Fate of the Fish" has just been released on enja records.

Rabih Abou-Khalil moves freely between traditional Arabic music, European classical music, and open-ended jazz. Born in Lebanon and long based in Germany before settling in France, this oud virtuoso and composer weaves Arabic, European, and American music into a sophisticated blend that owes nothing to world-music trends. Unprejudiced, sharp-minded, and armed with genuine wit alongside formidable playing and compositional skills, he fuses worlds that are often at odds in a way that feels entirely natural. He has drawn major jazz names into his orbit - Charlie Mariano, Kenny Wheeler, Joachim Kühn - as well as classical ensembles: Ensemble Modern, the Balanescu Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His work has earned him the Jazz Award five times in a single year; in 2002 he received an honorary certificate from the German Record Critics' Award for his complete body of work.

His complex compositions bring together Arabic metres and scales with expansive improvisation. The result is music that is fresh, fascinatingly intricate, and deeply sensuous.