Khyam Allami

Khyam Allami (born Damascus, Syria, 1981) is a British-based musician and musicologist of Iraqi descent. He is best known as a contemporary player of the Arabic oud lute (working both with traditional Arabic repertoire and with contemporary compositions and cross-disciplinary music) and has also written about and lectured on Arabic music.

Allami has studied oud and composition with a variety of musicians and composers from the Arab world, including Ehsan Emam, Naseer Shamma, Abdo Dagher, Hazem Shaheen and Mehmet Bitmez. His most prominent public appearance to date has been at the 2010 Proms concerts in London. He performed on 9 August 2010 as part of Prom 33: BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy alongside one of his mentors, Iraqi guitarist and singer Ilham Al Madfai. He also currently performs and promotes oud-based concerts in London under the title of Ud and Elsewhere, in which he collaborates with other musicians from diverse backgrounds.

Allami has also worked within the rock music field as a drummer and bass guitarist, having played for bands including Knifeworld, Ursa, Art of Burning Water and Gales.

Khyam Allami was born into an Iraqi family in Damascus, Syria, in 1981. Although his parents were not actively musical, he grew up surrounded by Arabic music (as well as music from other cultures). From the age of seven he learned accordion and violin, and at the age of eight played the role of a young violinist in Rimon Butrus’s 1991 film Al-Tahaleb. The Allami family relocated to London, UK, when Khyam was nine years old.

In his teenage years, Allami rejected his original Iraqi background. He abandoned his former instruments, stopped speaking Arabic and immersed himself in Western rock (in particular, bands such as Soundgarden, Melvins, Killing Joke and Tool . During this period he also learned how to play guitar, bass guitar and drums.

...
Wikipedia