Incense of Music Festival // Incense of Music Nr. 41
Ziad Rajab, oud and voice
Gareth Lubbe, viola and overtone singing
Hayden Chisholm, sax
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Ziad Rajab was born in Aleppo, Syria, to a Syrian mother and a Palestinian father. Both his mother and his grandmother played the oud and it was from them that he received his first lessons. He made his professional debut in 1983, playing with Sabab al arube, a group affiliated to the Aleppo Fine Arts Association, and went on to play the oud with other musicians and singers from Aleppo at various Syrian festivals. Since 1988 he has made his home in Greece, in Thessaloniki, pursuing his own lines of musical inquiry.
Gareth Lubbe made his debut as a violinist with orchestra in Johannesburg at the age of nine; He won numerous prizes at regional and national competitions. As a soloist and chamber musician he worked worldwide. Lubbe performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra on the solo viola under conductors like Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding. In the field of chamber music he worked with Claudio Bohórquez, Daishin Kashimoto, Alexander Lonquich, Fazıl Say, Adrian Brendel and Baiba Skride.
Hayden Chisholm was raised in New Plymouth, New Zealand, by parents Heather and Doug Chisholm. His first musical experiences came with local Dixieland bands. He began playing clarinet at age nine before switching to what became his primary instrument, the alto saxophone, two years later. The early influences of Johnny Hodges, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy were strong, being his first jazz records. Hayden is a member of the quartet Root 70 with trombonist Nils Wogram. In 2018 Chisholm was a finalist at the New Zealand Jazz Awards in the Recorded Music NZ Best Jazz Artist category.
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