This recital is the fourth in St Ives Arts Club's extremely popular and successful World Classics Series, following on from sellout kora and sitar concerts in July and October.
The internationally renowned soloist Ahmed Mukhtar is a master of the oud (unfretted lute), one of the chief instruments used for the performance of Arabic classical music. He studied oud in Damascus and London and holds a Master's degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he now teaches.
Mr Mukhtar – born in Baghdad and now resident in London – has performed throughout the Middle East and Europe, including at London's Iraqi Music Week in 2006 and Iraq's Al Mada Festival in April 2007, and has released four solo CDs, notably 'Rhythms of Baghdad' on the ARC label. The Independent on Sunday has said of his playing: 'The ... oud may be the hardest of all instruments ... but Mukhtar ... can make it dream, gallop or thunder, and he uses silence to great effect.'
Arabic classical music is a rich and ancient tradition. Like Indian music it is based on modes, called maqams, some of the notes of which deviate from the Western scale. The absence of frets on the oud enables production of these microtonally altered notes, and it is in part these modes that lend Arabic music its particular character.
Ahmed Mukhtar is one of the world's top oud players. His recital will be an extremely rare opportunity to hear Arabic classical music in Cornwall and to experience the oud and its repertoire – a far cry from Western Renaissance lute music. Inside Cornwall has rated this one of November's three top concerts, and it is surely a must for all players and aficionados of the guitar and lute and for all lovers of ethnic music. There are only a few tickets remaining for what is sure to be another sellout, so don't delay!

DeacTickets £8 Will Sleath 01736?794477 / St Ives TIC Street an Pol 01736-796297
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