Bashir Abdelal

Bashir Abdel 'Aal was born in Damascus, Syria, into a family of Musicians. His father was a virtuoso of the quanoon (Arabic zither) in Egypt and his brothers are all accomplished musicians: Aboud, Mounir and Fouad are virtuoso violinists and Nabil plays guitar and bass. At the age of ten Bashir began playing music - first on a bottle, trying to imitate the sounds of the nay (Arabic reed flute) and then he went on to learn the nay itself. After moving to Beirut, Lebanon, Bashir quickly became known through-out the Middle East for his virtuoso flute playing both in orchestras as well as accompanying some of the most famous Middle Eastern artists such as Farid Al Atrash, Fouad Mohammed, Mohammed Abdul Wahab, Abdul Halim Hafiz and others. In 1977 he moved to England, settling in London, and has since become renowned as one of the finest exponents of the nay. He has played on countless film and TV scores and even for rock artist Jimmy Page and Robert Plant on their "No Quarter - Unledded" album (Bashir played on the famous 'Kashmir session'.) Recently he has been touring with the group 'Nara' with Abdullah Chhadeh and musicians from many nations working together on musical projects.