The concert will be 3.30pm-5pm.

Ahead of the concert will be a workshop 2-3pm in maqam-based music and rhythms, open to all!

All welcome, family friendly. Cafe open for hot and cold drinks.

‘Oud Wanderings’ will see two old friends travel between quiet spots across the UK, offering a concert of solo oud compositions by Abderraouf Ouertani, narrated by Susannah Knights. Over the course of an hour, Ouertani’s compositions – some of which were composed recently, and others many years ago – will here be brought together and interspersed with stories of a long journey that he undertook between Istanbul and India. Together, we explore themes of spirituality, senses of home, and journeying.

Abderraouf’s compositions bring together diverse musical languages that he has developed between Tunisia, France, and beyond. He has written and recorded four albums for oud, each recorded in collaboration with different instrumental configurations – from jazz quartet to organ. As well as composing for oud, Abderraouf also has a new Arab Indie Rock project, Kohhen El Kef, which features rock compositions sung in Tunisian dialect, and undertakes research in anthropology of music.

Indeed, Abderraouf and Susannah met as anthropology students at the EHESS, Paris, and Abderraouf and his family supported Susannah throughout her own research on music industries and recording archives in Tunisia. This UK tour marks a special opportunity for Susannah to return the hospitality and to invite Abderraouf to the places where she grew up, rediscovering the UK through their journey!

Abderraouf Ouertani’s career is above all a story about curiosity and meeting. It began with the discovery of the oud in Tunisia at the age of 13. Prematurely, he left the conservatoire. ‘The oud is dead, Long live the oud!’ In search of new horizons, he moved to Paris in 2008 where he completed a PhD in Anthropology of Music at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

He has released four albums of compositions for oud, each recorded in collaboration with different instrumental configurations. ‘Contes d’un misérable luth’, released in 2013, features compositions for oud with percussionist Mohammed Amine Jebali. ‘Contes outre-méditerranéens’, released in 2015, featured a quartet including Chilean double-bass player Patricio Lisboa, French saxophonist Benoît Meynier and Palestinian percussionist Yousef Zayed.

After discovering a Caviller-Coll organ in the little church of his neighbourhood in Paris, he decided to compose for an oud-organ duo, in a collaboration with his Jazz tutor Patrick Villanueva. This led to a third album in 2018, ‘Duo Deux Rives’. For his fourth album, he opted to keep the duo formula. ‘Tales of a return to the imaginary country’, released in 2021, was recorded with Korean piano player Daum Jung.

He has a new Arab Indie Rock project, Kohhen El Kef, which features rock compositions sung in Tunisian dialect. Musically, it is inspired by British Indie Rock, particularly Radiohead. This UK tour will thus be a both a discovery and a return to one of his many musical homelands!

Susannah Knights grew up surrounded by Western classical music in the UK, but was taken by her own curiosity to live in Tunis in 2012, where she became interested in alternative Tunisian music scenes. She explored this interest through a Master’s in Anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, where she met Abderraouf, becoming one of his students in the oud.

Between 2017 and 2023 she studied for a PhD in ethnomusicology at King’s College London. She continued to carry out fieldwork in Tunis, where she explored sound archives and recording industries. Throughout this journey she was supported by the whole Ouertani family. This UK tour marks a special opportunity for Susannah to return the hospitality and to invite Abderraouf to the places where she grew up, rediscovering the UK through their journey!