Middle Eastern Encounters

About

Jacob Reuven is a firm believer in the universal nature of music and is an active member in several multicultural ensembles - most notably Ensemble Maktub. It is his view that while every culture has its own musical forms, the appeal that these forms hold is not limited to any particular time or place. In other words, music can transcend the arbitrary boundaries that humans devise to separate themselves from others - which is also what makes music perfect for projects seeking to bridge political, ethnic, and religious divides. This project is based on original music of encounters between mandolin, the pectoral instrument of the Western tradition with the pectoral instruments coming from the East such as Oud, Kamnaja, Quanun. These musical encounters combine classical traditions of the West with those of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisie, Morocco, etc.