Wendyhouse Productions of Woodstock Studios in London’s Shepherds Bush teamed up with Kazbah to produce this interview with Duoud discussing the origins of the Oud, the forerunner to the Lute.

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DuOud are a fiercely independent instrumental duo made up of technical genius Jean-Pierre Smadja and gypsy-punk virtuoso Medhi Haddab.  DuOud played several gigs in London at the end of November this year, their eclectic musical style mixes the lyrical sound of the Oud with electronica to create music which defies categorising.  DuOud’s latest album “Ping Kong” is due for release in early 2009.

Links:
Click HERE for DuOud and Ping Kong on myspace.
For more on Wendyhouse Productions click HERE

Hassan Hajjaj’s show, Dakka Marrakesh (Marrakesh Beat) at Leighton House is stunning.  We bring you a recording of his conversation with Rose Issa - Click the arrow play button to listen to the interview:
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Links:
For exhibition listing click HERE
Kazbah on Hassan click HERE
Hassan’s website click HERE

What is a Persian Pardis? muses Roya D. Tolouee, Kazbah’s essayist in Tehran

The garden is a place for delight that Persians have been creating and designing since long ago.  Many historians postulate that the ancient Persians were the first creators of gardens. In an Avestan Script, Zoroastrian sacred writings from the late Sassanian period 3rd-6th Century AD, archaeologists have found READ THE REST…

Lemma Shehadi writes, the memory of wild writer in a red dress, the Father of Ambient music and a reclusive Lebanese poet were all enmeshed to celebrate 25 years of a small but influential bookshop and publishing house on Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, Al Saqi books. Gathered at Kensington Town Hall were writers, poets, musicians, politicians and general shmoozers.  The evening paid homage to exuberant author and feminist, Mai Ghoussoub, who co-founded Saqi books with André Gaspard and to 120 years of Kahlil Gibran’s poetry.

One by one, figures from the worlds of Middle Eastern Politics, Literature and Music got READ THE REST…