User:Zahawi

(هه‌ژار)HUSSEIN ZAHAWY

Hussein zahawy was born in 1980 in to a Kurdish family; he had early Persian childhood and then moved to UK in 1990 with his family where he grow up. Coming from a musical background, he was taught the daf [Kurdish frame drum], which initially became his main instrument by his grandfather at age of five. At a later age, he pursued his interest in other Kurdish and world percussion instrument. At the age of thirteen, he was invited to join the first national radio and television orchestra of Kurdish music in Europe.

Hussein has performed extensively in the entire world both as a soloist and accompanying other groups and ensembles. He has collaborated with Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Indian and Persian musicians as well as Kurdish. Those collaborations have resulted in several CD recordings and performances in the world music circuit, such as the festival of WOMAD in U.K and Canary Islands, WOMAX in Netherlands, World Sacred Music Festival in Morocco, Spain, and Europe, several tours in U.S.A and the Middle East. He holds regular workshops on Kurdish music and percussion in Europe and has given several presentations in various music conferences in London and abroad. Hussein also participated in several TV programmes and documentaries on Kurdish music, and playing on the sound track of the Hollywood movie ‘Kingdom of heaven “in 2005.

In 2000, he formed the Living Fire Ensemble, which for the first time in the history of Kurdish music brought together musicians from all over Kurdistan with the aim of uniting the many diverse regional musical style. Hussein is a freelance percussionist and actor, working on a variety of projects with multiple theatre companies in both the UK and US. He has recently completed a world tour, encompassing exotic locations such as Sudan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia with Sami Yusuf, featuring as a solo percussionist. Hussein is also working with choreographers on two dance projects that will premiere in early 2008. He has recently recorded his first solo album of percussion compositions, to be released in October 2007.