Marcel Khalife

Marcel Khalife is a Lebanese composer, singer, and oud virtuoso, born in Amchit in 1950, and one of the most influential figures in modern Arabic music. A graduate of the Beirut National Conservatory, he founded the Al Mayadeen Ensemble in 1976 and became renowned across the Arab world for setting the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish to music in songs such as Ummi, Rita, and Jawaz al-Safar. His work fuses classical Arabic forms with Western influences and is bound up with themes of resistance, exile, and Palestinian identity, which at times drew censorship and legal challenges. Named a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2005, he has recorded more than twenty albums across a career spanning five decades and now frequently performs alongside his sons, pianist Rami and percussionist Bachar Khalife.