Wassim Mukdad is a Berlin based musician from Syria, he composes, directs and plays the Oud (the Arabic Laute) performing multiple genres like Tarab, Dance and Medieval music mixed with elements from other musical cultures.

Since early childhood, Wassim played both the Oud and Piano, strongly inspired by Munir Bashir, one of the best Oud players in the history. He continued his academic studies at "the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus" under the supervision of the renown professors Askar Alikbarov (from Azerbaijan), Isam Rafee and Mohammad Othman (from Syria).

Wassim works currently on various music and theater projects like:
-"Die Nacht von Lissabon" in Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin.
www.gorki.de/en/die-nacht-von-lissabon

-"Reich des Todes. Politische Theorie" in Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg.
www.schauspielhaus.de/de_DE/stuecke/reich-des-todes.1269226

-"Ajam Quartet", a Quartet for fusion of Arabic music and European music in Berlin.

www.ajamquartet.com

- Trio Laulu, Piano, Contra-bass and Oud performing an oriental and jazz interpretation of Finnish folks-music.

-"Kayan Project", a mixed quartet of Syria and Israel, delivering a message of peace and diversity.
www.kayanproject.com

Wassim has performed also with a lot of ensembles in Syria and Turkey stressing on opening the conversation between cultures and advocating peace in the face of stereotyping, racism and wars.

As A Psychosocial Specialist Wassim continues his efforts in this field participating in Projects such as “Musikplus Fusion” with Berliner Philharmoniker - Education department in Berlin after he had helped traumatized Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian IDP children affected by wars 2010 – 2012 in Syria through music and choirs in cooperation with UNRWA, UNICEF, DRC (Danish Rescue Committee) and SARC “Syrian Arab Red Crescent SARC”.

Wassim studies musicology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and in all of these projects he continues to fulfill his vision of music as one of the most important means of communication, which can connect people from variable cultural and lingual backgrounds and lets them interact on a very deep emotional level.

Photo © Anton Tal