AHMAD SHAMMA QUARTET

Ahmad Shamma

Iraqi oud player Ahmad Shamma received his training at Baghdad University’s College of Fine Arts and later with Naseer Shamma at the Cairo Oud House, where he graduated with honors in 2007. He subsequently taught at the Oud Houses in Cairo and Abu Dhabi before joining the faculty of Sorbonne University’s Abu Dhabi branch in 2013. He has performed in numerous countries throughout the Arabic-speaking world and beyond. In 2014, he released his debut album Arabian Springs. In addition to his stage career, he also works as a composer for other artists as well as in film and television.

Zied Zouari

Zied Zouari received his musical education in Tunisia and has been living in Paris since 2006, where he has performed with artists from various musical traditions, including Sylvain Luc, Daniel Mille, Bojan Z, Manu Théron, and Emel Mathlouthi. Equally at home in Arabic music and in jazz, electronic music, and rock, he has performed at the Festival de Carthage, Institut du monde arabe, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Zénith, among many other venues. In 2016, he was the music director for the first Arabic-language opera, Moneim Adwan’s Kalîla wa Dimna, which premiered at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Yassir Bousselam

Yassir Bousselam studied violoncello in his native Morocco as well as in Paris, Brussels, and Mons. He was a member of the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chapelle Musicale de Tournai, the Brussels Philharmonic, and the Moroccan Radio Orchestra, and teaches master classes in Morocco and abroad. In addition to his artistic career, he obtained a PhD in ethnomusicology specializing in the music of the Moroccan-Andalusian tradition.

Leïla Soldevila

Leïla Soldevila studied classical and jazz double bass in Lyon, The Hague, and Paris and works as a musician, composer, and arranger in a variety of musical contexts from jazz and improvised music to traditional music from different cultures, to pop music, French chanson, and Western classical music. She has performed with many ensembles and groups throughout France, as well as in Canada, India, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Morocco, among other places.

Lorca Sbeity
Lorca Sbeity works as a poet, writer, and journalist. She has published poetry, children’s books, and articles on political and cultural issues in a variety of outlets. Her books of poetry include You Are Mine Now, You Are Free (2004), Nothing but Insomnia (2014), and most recently This Is All Before You. Her children’s book Two Homes Instead of One was named Best Children’s Book at the 2017 Etisalat Awards at the Sharjah Book Fair.