BIO

Ziad Al Ahmadieh, the unclassifiable

Sometimes traditional Arabic, sometimes classical, close to flamenco with Afro-Cuban sonority or funk, Ziad El Ahmadie is part of "unclassified artist". So to keep things simple, we tidy it in the oriental fusion. He is Oud player, singer and composer.

His career started in 1992 with the founding of the Chromatic Band. He gave concerts and recitals, beginning with the prestigious universities in Beirut and then in the following countries (Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Tunisia, Morocco, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and USA).

In 2000, he composed music for a dance show choreographed by Munir Malaaeb named "Nour Al Sharq".

With three albums ("Bilbal" in 2003, "Beyond Traditions" in 2006 and "Silent Wave" in 2009) to his credit, Ziad El Ahmadie loves mixtures. In his three albums, he composed tunes where we can listen to Arabic rooted melodies but at the same time mingled and mixed with other cultural elements like instrumentation, rhythms, harmony and orchestration.

He collaborated in his projects (Albums and concerts) with many musicians like: Abboud Al Saadi, Claude Chalhoub, Wissam Kairouz, Gihad Asaad, Raed Bou Kamel, Tarek Yamani, Jean Madani, Khaled Yassine, Nassib El Ahmadie, Fouad Afra, Miles Jay, Jeremy Chapman, Elie Maalouf, Youssif Zayed, Bahaa Daou, Ziad Jaafar, Samir Nasriddine, Samah Abul Mona, Ahmad Al Khatib, Nidal Abu Samra, Bachar Farran, Mohammad Nahhas, Samir Siblini, Mohammad Haidar, Mohyiddine Al Ghali, Joseph Sejaan, Tom Hornig, Walid Bou Serhal, Tony Sweid, Salman Baalbaki, Ramzi Bou Kamel, Rami Bou Kamel, Ali Hassan, Samer Zaghir, Makram Aboul Hosn, Antoine Marguier, Jonathan Pasternack, Nicola Orioli, Frederic Folmer, Sylvain Fournier and many others.

In 2006 and 2007, he collaborated with the Swiss composer Robert Clerc and played solo Oud in a persian opera “A l’Ombre du Grand Arbre”, and presented this Opera in Geneva and Paris. This collaboration lead to another opera in 2008 named "OperAdon" where he also participated as co-composer and Oud player.

Since 2006 till present time, he composed music for many TV Drama works like: "Al Layla Al Akheera", "Mish Zabta", "Majnoun Layla", "Al Hobb Al Mamnou", "Scenario", Akher Khabar", "Luna", "Asre El Harim", "The Team", "Amelia", "Khtarab El Hay", Habib Mira", "10 Abeed Zghar". Also composed music for films like: "Hilwi Kteer w Kazzabeh" and "Bebe". He also made sound designs and composed music for plays since he was student at Lebanese American University, (more than 10 student productions), 5 Shakespeare plays directed by Ziad Abu Absi, and after graduation he composed music for "Al Mastaba" by Jawad Al Asadi, "Yerma", by Garcia Lorca directed by Hasan Ben Jaddi, "Beirut Jeane", by Omar Rajeh.

Close to education, Ziad El Ahmadie was the head of Drama and Music departments in Le Lycee National (1999 till 2014) where he established his choir and participated with them in many local festivals and won with them many competitions in Lebanon. At present, he is an instructor at the Lebanese International University (LIU) teaching music courses.