Alaa Zouiten

Alaa Zouiten was born in Casablanca, Morocco, where he began his musical journey towards becoming a master of the Oud, also known as the Arabic lute. He trained at the National Conservatory of Marrakech, and became a sideman in the fusion band Jbara. With the band he played at numerous Moroccan festivals including the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival, the Grand Festival of Casablanca and the Mawazine Festival in Rabat. With a grant from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Zouiten is producing his second album (debut album "Hada Makan" 2012). In his compositions he experiments with the stylistic, technical and aesthetic possibilities of the oud. The result is a fascinating mix of Arabic and Andalusian jazz, flamenco and rock. This potential is the basis for the collaboration between Zouiten and top-tier musicians from very diverse fusion projects in musically cosmopolitan Berlin. Since 2018, Alaa Zouiten has also curated two very successful projects of the Werkstatt der Kulturen, the “Arab Song Jam” and the “Gnaoua Festival Berlin”. Other important musical roles have included the musical direction of the Global Arabian Music Orchestra at the Berlin Philharmonie, the musical direction of "Common Sound" at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, as well as tours of his "Talking Oud 2020" in France, Germany and Morocco.