Simon Shaheen

Over the course of the last two decades, Simon Shaheen has developed a reputation as one of the world's leading Arabic and Middle Eastern musicians. With a deep understanding of both traditional and modern music, in addition to jazz, Western classical, and Indian music, he's uniquely placed to form a band like Qantara, whose master musicians draw upon all those traditions, as well as others, to create music that's global on their debut, Blue Flame.

"They all know music other than Western classical or American jazz," he explained. "They're so versatile, it's so pleasant and beautiful when we play together - there's a common language."

"They're musicians with open minds.I want us to go all the way, because I believe in this band so much."

It's another facet to a remarkable career. A virtuoso on both oud and violin, he's explored history with the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, released four solo albums, collaborated with talents like producer/bassist Bill Laswell. He's often to be found on the lecture circuit, educating people on music. But for a decade he's been preparing for his work with Qantara, who first recorded appearance was on The Two Tenors album.

It all came about when Shaheen saw that "people had a hunger for world music," and with Qantara he set about satisfying that appetite. Drafting in talent like percussionists Steve Sheehan and Jamey Haddad, and guitarist Adam Rogers, Shaheen composed "for each musician, and they play exactly what I write and what I want to hear. They're musicians with open minds.I want us to go all the way, because I believe in this band so much. I'm not replacing the Near Eastern Music ensemble with Qantara. They're different, and they're both a part of me."

From the time he was born, in Tarshiha, Galilee, music has been a part of Shaheen's life. His father was a professor of music and an oud player, and Shaheen himself took up the instrument when he was five, then a year later began studying violin, attending the Conservatory for Western Classical Music. " I just picked up on the instruments and they felt like an extension of me" he recalled. "With the oud I watched my father, I grew musically with him.That was the greatest school for me. Not necessarily that he taught me lessons, just living and playing with him."

His education continued at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem, becoming Instructor of Arabic Music upon graduation. But he wanted more, and moved to New York, where he'd been offered place at both Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music. He picked the latter, because "I felt better at Manhattan School of Music. I also knew I wanted to do some music education and musicology, so after that I did graduate studies at Columbia."

From there he's flowered in every area of his music. In addition to working with the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, his solo work has explored the rich tradition of Arabic music, including the music of legendary Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab. He contributed to the soundtracks of The Sheltering Sky and Malcolm X, and since 1994 has produced the annual Arab Festival of the Arts, in addition to the Arabic Musical Retreat, held yearly, which has proved so popular that "we've even had Arabs coming from the Middle East, people from France, Central and South America."

It's really over the last two years that he's become more visible, leading the orchestra for the historic Two Tenors performance in Las Vegas, and again for the duet of Sting and Cheb Mami at the Grammy Awards. And with Qantara, who easily leap cultural and musical boundaries,. his timing is right to appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners.

"I love the music and concept of Qantara," Shaheen observed, "and I feel at home with it."

Simon Shaheen

"They're musicians with open minds.I want us to go all the way, because I believe in this band so much."

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