Yazz Ahmed & Rabih Abou-Khalil Trio - Barbican

Yazz Ahmed draws on her mixed heritage, fusing jazz, Khaleeji music and electronica, to create a highly personal musical style. Tonight, she is joined by two artists from the Middle East and North Africa, who have found a new home in Europe — legendary Lebanese oudist, Rabih Abou-Khalil (whose album Blue Camel was a seminal influence on Yazz Ahmed) and Emel – avant-garde Tunisian-American singer and producer, whose soaring voice was a soundtrack to the Arab Spring and who has long been crafting a unique sonic universe, crushing stereotypes and forging a path all her own.

Performing with both their own ensembles and in collaboration with Yazz Ahmed and the Urban Soul Orchestra, Emel and Rabih Abou-Khalil will take the audience on a musical odyssey, mixing sounds from the MENA region to create a contemporary, universal musical language.