Jazz Articles about Marcel Khalife

Marcel Khalife: Taqasim

by Chris May
December 20, 2006

Before discussing the extraordinarily beautiful and uplifting music on Taqasim, a last minute, odds-on favourite for the best of 2006 lists, a little background on the oud, taqasim and oud player Marcel Khalife (you can hit fast forward if you know it).

Born in Lebanon in 1950 but now living in exile in Paris, Khalife's work is shaped by both classical Arab court music, of which he is a master, and today's Palestinian diaspora. In the 1970s, moved by the ...

Marcel Khalife: Caress

by AAJ Staff
November 3, 2004

There may not be any words to be found on Marcel Khalifé's latest virtuoso celebration of the oud (the Arabic lute pictured on the cover), but Caress (Muda'aba) does an elegant job in using the universal language of music to convey the maestro's exuberance, contemplation, and passion. The compositions range from pensive to rollicking, sometimes within the same piece, never really settling down into a single mode or groove. Khalifé integrates Western compositional ideas and a conversational feel within an ...