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Oud vibrations

Kamal Musallam has developed a unique sound, a blossoming career and a new guitar but a new guitar
Issue: May, 2008
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 Great hair. And, more importantly, great jazz hair. It might be accidental, but Jordan-born and Dubai-based guitarist and oud maestro Kamal Musallam clearly knows how to present an authentic late-night, smoky-lounged bohemian persona – the thick brush of curls on his head almost beg to be nodded in time with a syncopated rhythm, pattered out by a shade-wearing guy with a stick in one hand, brush in the other. 

Clichés aside, though, 36-year-old Musallam is not only perhaps the region’s leading exponent of jazz guitar – and numbers legendary Pat Methany as a mentor – but is busily crafting his own niche. Bringing the oud into jazz, and jazz into Arabic music, he is even developing his own guitar-oud hybrid with Japanese guitar makers Ibanez. It’s a blend that can be heard on his second album Out of My City, that is released this month on his own label.
 
NOX: Oud, jazz, fusion… why aren’t you in Beirut or Cairo?
Kamal Musallam: Well, culturally Dubai is, I admit, almost zero compared to those cities, but from an exposure and business point of view, it’s great – and has definitely been a great move for me. There are a lot of diverse people here, and if you have a plan, Dubai can be good to you.
 
NOX: Well, there’s bound to be more jazz fans there than, say, Amman…
KM: It’s a real cross-over, with Europeans, Indians, Arabs, so it’s a great pool of influences to drawn on, too. There also good clubs, and I have been playing venues like Velvet Lounge, Blue Bar and Tamaniya on an almost weekly basis for the past couple of years. It’s strange, though, but I now have fans who follow me around!
 
NOX: How does a jazz guitarist get noticed in the Middle East…?
KM: The Velvet Lounge really promoted me well when I started there. But the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Jazz Festivals, which I have played since 2003, really got me noticed. I played the oud with leading French jazz singer Anne Ducros, which was an amazing experience. I think that was the moment that turned my career – people were asking ‘who is this guy who plays jazz with an oud?’
 
NOX: The new album is coming out this month. How much are having to write the music you want to play?
KM: A lot. I like to create, though. I’m also a painter, and in a way it is painting with sound, or sound design. The new album, Out Of My City, is drawn from the last six years being in Dubai. It’s deeply personal for me, all about living in a big city, struggling and trying to find my place.
 
NOX: And you’re developing a new guitar? That doesn’t sound easy…
KM: Well, I have endorsed a new fretless guitar – called a glissentar – from a Canadian company, which uses 11 oud strings. The sound is beautiful. I am also working on one that I helping to devise myself with Ibanez. I’m going there to finalise the designs, so I hope I’ll have it b the end of the year.