Charbel Rouhana

Charbel Rouhana (Arabic: شربل روحانا) is one of the finest oud players in Lebanon. Born in 1965 in Amsheet (a town north of Beirut), Charbel pursued his music education at the Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik and obtained his diploma in oud instrumentation in 1986 and his M.A. in Musicology in 1987.

One of his major achievements is establishing a new methodology in playing the oud. This method was published and adopted by the National Conservatory of Music and the Faculty of Music in the Holy Spirit University, where he has been teaching since 1986.

During the 80's he was member of Al-Mayadine ensemble, playing alongside Marcel Khalife.

Rouhana has been performing live events since 1984, touring several countries, venues, and festivals. He also collaborated in composing musicals for choreographer Abdul Haleem Caracalla's shows: "Elissa-The Queen of Carthage"-1995, "Andalusia-Lost Glory" 1997, and "Bleilit Kamar"-1999. Winner of several national awards, Charbel also won the first prize at the Hirayama Competition in 1995 in Japan, for Best Composition entitled "Hymn of Peace".

According to Charbel, Oriental-Arabic music is facing a renaissance period incarnated by traditional instruments especially the oud which is ancient and always related to traditional singing and classical instrumental Arabic music. Charbel's musical writings succeeded in transforming this Arabic traditional instrument into a multinational, modern instrument able to communicate with other cultures and music, with an emphasis on the Oriental-Arabic style. [1]

Charbel has also released several studio albums, including one of his most known albums "Dangerous" (Arabic: خطيرة) in which he sang, and didn't play only music and it was released in 2006. Charbel's latest projects is "Handmade" (Arabic: شغل بيت) in which he only played music. In this last album, he worked with the Beirut Oriental Ensemble and also performed many concerts with the band, including his first concert series for the album which was held at the "Al Madina" Theater (Arabic: مسرح المدينة) and which was filmed and later released on a DVD by the Forward Music Production.

Discography

Studio Albums:

1997: Salamat
1998: Mada (with Hani Siblini)
2000: Mazaj Alani
2003: The Art of Middle Eastern Oud (out in Lebanon under the title "Vice Versa")
2004: Sourat
2006: Dangerous
2008: Handmade
2009: Douzan

DVDs:

2008: Charbel Rouhana & the Beirut Oriental Ensemble: The "Handmade" Concert