YUVAL ASHKAR, Composer, Vocals, Oud, Cumbus, Darbuka, Daf, Riq, Zarb Player, Middle Eastern Traditional Music Expert

Yuval Ashkar is a composer, oud (‘ud) player, percussionist and internationally-acclaimed Middle Eastern musician. Yuval has evolved his unique style of oud playing through the synthesis of Turkish, Iraqi, Egyptian and North African musical influences and techniques. Yuval was born in Israel to an accomplished musical family. His father, from an Iraqi-Afghan background, a master trumpet player and teacher who performed with Israeli orchestras all over the world.

Yuval has worked with a large range of musicians both in Australia and Internationally. Some of these musicians and groups and events include, Cleis Pearce, Greg Sheehan, Greg Lyons, The Romaniacs, Dursun, Akdash, Andy Busuttil, Kurdish Earth, Metulla International Festival” with Ladino singer Yaheli Toren and famous jazz pianist Davis Coleman. Yuval was also invited to perform alongside singer Yasmin Levi in a special performance in Istanbul, Turkey. He has composed music for theatre and film, including a short film which won the “European Short Film Festival”. He has performed several times at the Woodford Folk Festival with Guy Madigan and Ayelet Ashkar. Yuval recorded his first solo album, called “Maayan” – Traditional Middle Eastern tunes, songs in Hebrew from “The Song of Songs”, and his own original compositions. He then recorded his second album, “Camoon”, with Guy Madigan and Cleis Pearce consisting of traditional and contemporary music.