Kamal Musallam, the founder of Arabic Fusion bands Kamal Musallam Trio and EastMania, has been expressing himself through music since the age of 3. Born in Kuwait in 1970, and encouraged by his parents for both art and music, he started out playing the piano and the accordion and then picked up the guitar when he was 9. He finished his studies in architecture in 1994 to persue a masters in management, and after 3 years of working as architect and project manager, he decided to quit all and follow his heart as a musician.

Musallam developed his skills playing the guitar and the oud and began to fuse together the influences that inspired him, mainly Jazz, Rock, Arabic music and Asian music.

The release of his first album in 2003, called On a Jordan River’s Side, under his own label K&G, was highly acclaimed and appreciated on an international scale. Since then he released 5 more albums: 2008 – Out Of My City, 2009 – Lulu (Grammy selection), 2011 – Songs For Seung-eun (Grammy selection), 2012 – The Best Of Kamal Musallam 1999-2011, and 2013 – Homemade in Rome.

Kamal has recorded and played along with a long list of world class musicians such as George Benson, Bobby Mc Ferrin, Billy Cobham, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Kai Eckhardt, Ada Rovatti, Stanely Jordan, Anne Ducros, David Reinhardt, Jorge Pardo (Paco De Lucia Septet) and Francisco Molina, among others.

In 2001 Kamal registered his record label K&G, and Since 2006, he had established his music production & promotion company in the UAE, KMAC.

Musallam is currently playing the newly developed electric oud by Godin, the Multi-Oud. He had also developed with Ibanez new signature guitar models that provide the facility to play Arabic quarter tones, the KMM1, and KMA1.

Kamal Musallam’s Performance