Ahmad Al Khatib

Ahmad Al Khatib was born in 1974 in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. He began learning the oud at an early age with Palestinian master musician Ahmad Abdel Qasem, and later studied musicology and Western classical cello at Yarmouk University in Jordan, from which he graduated with honours in 1997. He began his teaching career at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in the Oriental Music Department, and later went on to head the department.

Though he was forced to leave Palestine in 2002 due to the political situation, he continued to work for the conservatory overseas and produced a series of oud instruction books and transcriptions of Arab classical work. In 2004, he settled in Sweden, where he earned his M.A. in ethnomusicology and musical education at the University of Gothenburg.

Al Khatib is currently a lecturer at the University of Gothenburg’s Academy of Music and Drama, where he teaches modal music, composition theory and ensemble music. Al Khatib has recorded several albums and has performed in the Middle East, India, the United States, Europe, and Brazil. He is currently a member of Double Duo, a project initiated by London-based oud player Khyam Allami. In 2007, Al Khatib received the Inspirer of the Year Prize from the Swedish world music festival Planeta.