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Issa Boulos
Background (b Jerusalem, Palestine, 1968). Issa Boulos is a Palestinian-American 'ud1 player, composer, curriculum developer, researcher and educator. Born into a Christian family who is infamous for both music and literary traditions, it was not unusual for his extraordinary talent to become eminent at a very early age, whereby he was singing Arab classical maqam 2, 3 repertoire by age 7. Accordingly he was enrolled & studied ‘ud with Abu Raw`hi 'Ibaidu at the Institute of Fine Arts in Ramallah. His musical activities started during the mid 1980s through acting as an arranger & performer with local groups; these involved both folk and contemporary works. In 1986, he released Al-‘Ashiq5 with Sareyyet Ramallah Troup for Music and Dance6 followed by Rasif Al-Madinah in 1989 with composer Jamil Al-Sayih. By the early 1990s, Issa was exploring Western-music's principals of composition and orchestration of which he incorporated various aspects into his own music. An intense focus on music composition offered Issa more flexible means of artistic expression and richer musical sonorities and textures. Those early years witnessed the composition of over 200 instrumental and vocal pieces and one large-scale extended work entitled Kawkab Akhar.7 What established him as a unique artist was that those works portrayed his profound understanding of both maqam & Western music concepts whereby they represented his ability to utilize the latter while keeping his art in line with the sensibilities of Palestinian musical taste as well as maintaining a pivotal link with the maqam tradition. Subsequently, he was appointed director of Birzeit University's musical group Sanabil, in addition to training Al-Funoun Popular Dance Troupe8 and Sareyyet Ramallah Troupe for Music and Dance. Altogether the 80’s & 90’s witnessed profound anticipation towards broadening his artistic perspectives of music-making as this Palestinian-American artist lived on & off between Ramallah and Chicago. Eventually, he settled in Chicago in 1994 and enrolled in the music composition program at Columbia College Chicago where he studied music composition with Gustavo Leone and Athanasios Zervas and followed that up in the graduate program at Roosevelt University with Robert Lombardo and Ilya Levinson. Enriched by the previous ensembles' musical experiences, Issa founded the Issa Boulos Ensemble in 1998 while continuing to perform his original contemporary compositions that ranged at that time from maqam compositions to jazz. With this ensemble Issa’s reputable works went well beyond Palestine as he continued his lifelong far-reaching musical journey performing his own original music. After completing his Masters degree in 2000, he spent one year in his hometown where he continued to be an active composer, educator and 'udist. During that year, he took on the position of instructor of Western music theory and history, 'ud, chorus, ensemble and theory of Arab music at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Ramallah.9 Issa has given workshops and lecture-demonstrations at several American & European institutes, most prominently, the University of Chicago, Yale, Michigan Univesity and Oxford University. He continues to be invited throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East. Furthermore, he is often invited on radio shows such as Chicago’s WBEZ / National Public Radio10,11 as an authoritative figure & consultant in Arab & Middle East music.12 Other activities include, but are not limited to, being the cofounder of Nawa Institute; leader of the al-Sharq Ensemble13 & the Issa Boulos Ensemble;14 member in Lingua Musica15 and Nawa Ensemble;16 and founder of the Arab Classical Music Society (ACMS).17 He reformed and directed the University of Chicago Middle East Music Ensemble18 for 10+ years until he was recruited in 2010 to head the Arab Music Department at Qatar Music Academy in Doha, Qatar.19 Issa’s portfolio includes traditional Arab compositions and arrangements, jazz, and film & theatre scores, notably those for Lysistrata 2000, Catharsis and recently the PBS’s documentary film The New Americans, 20 and Nice Bombs.21 In most of his orchestral compositions, Boulos incorporates the melodic material of maqam and some of the instruments associated with it such as the ‘ud, buzuq, baglama, qanun, nay, Turkish clarinet, santoor, and traditional percussion instruments. This blend of tradition, creativity, and innovation has situated him as a bridge between the Arab world and the West. It was upon these achievements that he was commissioned to write original orchestral works for various renowned orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 22 He is a recipient of many awards and fellowships including the 2006 and 2003 Artist Fellowship Award by the Illinois Arts Council, and the Norwegian Fund Award in 2006, the Palestinian Cultural Fund Award in 2006, and the Arab Cultural Fund Award in 2010. Musical Works Highlights

2010 		Streets 1, Streets 2, for orchestra, commission by the Palestine National Orchestra; performed in Syria, Palestine, Serbia, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Tunisia & Egypt.

2008		A Jerusalemite Love Song, for voice and orchestra; performed by The Palestine-Berlin Youth Orchestra in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria & Egypt. 2008		Raqs al-Janub, Manfa, for orchestra and qanun; performed by Euro Med Youth Orchestra in Syria, Palestine, Serbia, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Tunisia & Egypt. 2007		Manfa and Longa, for orchestra and qanun; performed by The Palestine-Berlin Youth Orchestra. 2006		Four orchestral pieces with mixed world music ensemble commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO); performed by the CSO in Chicago, & by other orchestras in Greece, Syria & Jordan. 2005 		Nice Bombs, original music for independent documentary. 2003 		New Americans, original music for PBS documentary. 2000 		Shortly After Life, for orchestra. 2000 		Tao, for violin & harp. 1999		Samar, twenty jazz pieces for, ‘ud, tambourine, guitar and clarinet. 1998		Sama, six pieces for string quartet & harp. 1998 		Pastiche, for chamber orchestra. 1995 		Naji, for piano and cello. 1993		Another Planet, original instrumental compositions.

1989		Side Street, original songs.

1986 		al-Ashiq, Palestinian folk songs.

Discography23 2011 		Little Composers, arranged children songs. Nawa Records, Jerusalem

2010 		Sunny and Breezy, original instrumental works. Nawa Records, Jerusalem

2009 		Being Peace, original songs. Nawa Records, Chicago

2008 		Meme Enchanted, arranged traditional songs for full ensemble. U of C, Chicago

2008 		Al-‘Hallaj, eight original songs for mixed Ensemble. Nawa Records, Chicago

2007 		Rif, original compositions for Turkish kemence. Nawa Records, Chicago

2003 		One World, One Language, original composition for Lingua Musica, Chicago

1989 		Side Street, original songs, Jerusalem

1986		Al-‘Ashiq, Palestinian folk.

Highlights of Recordings as Significant Ensemble Member 2004		Boonie Ba-Boona, Assyrian Market Records, Chicago 2002		Il y a un pays Palestine, Musique du monde, France 2002		Ida y Vuelta. Flamenco, Sweet Pickle Music, Chicago 2002		Songs for Swinging Sophisticates, Jazz, Sideways Entertainment, Chicago

Highlights of Radio & Television Appearances 2013	WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio, Worldview10 2010    BBC Oxford / interview and presentation 2009    BBC Oxford / interview and presentation 2009    Monte Carlo Paris / interview and presentation 2008    NPR, National Public Radio / interview and presentation 2007	WLUW, Loyola's Radio Station, with Peter Margasak / review 2007	WLUW, Loyola's Radio Station / Chicago World Music Festival 2006	WLUW, Loyola's Radio Station / Arab Heritage Month24 2006	NPR, Prairie Home Companion (Garrison Keillor), interview and presentation.25 2006 	WTTW, Metromix, interview / Chicago World Music Festival 2005	CBS, interview and presentation / Chicago Jazz Festival 2004	ABC Chicago Radio, interview and presentation / Love Songs of the World 2003    CLTV, Global Connections, Exploring the ‘Ud 2001    Monte Carlo Ramallah / interview and presentation

References 1.	http://middleeast.about.com/od/o/g/oud-definition.htm 2.	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_maqam 3.	http://www.maqamworld.com/maqamat.html 4.	http://ncm.birzeit.edu/en 5.	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEGTytaiRts 6.	http://www.sareyyet.ps/index.php?lang=en 7.	http://www.issaboulos.com/ 8.	http://www.el-funoun.org/ 9.	http://ncm.birzeit.edu/en 10.	https://soundcloud.com/wbez-worldview/global-notes-music-born-from 11.	http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/global-notes-chicago-oud-masters-perform-studio-0 12.	http://www.last.fm/music/Issa+Boulos 13.	http://www.issaboulos.com/sharq.html 14.	http://www.issaboulos.com/ibe.html 15.	http://www.arts.illinois.gov/artstour-roster/donald-neale-lingua-musica 16.	http://www.issaboulos.com/nawa.html 17.	www.issaboulos.com/acms/www/index.html 18.	http://meme.uchicago.edu/ 19.	http://www.music.com.qa/about-us/faculty/biography?pid=3&name=Issa_Boulos 20.	http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans/theseries_series_credits_03.html 21.	http://www.nicebombs.com/about.html 22.	http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-09-16/entertainment/0609160171_1_world-music-festival-violin-and-orchestra-chen-yi 23.	http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/IssaBoulos 24.	http://las.depaul.edu/mol/docs/docs/Calendar_of_Events.pdf 25.	http://find.publicradio.org/search?site=phc&client=phc&proxystylesheet=phc&filter=p&access=p&output=xml_no_dtd&q=issa+boulos&x=-1116&y=-59