DAL’OUNA ENSEMBLE is named after a festive Palestinian music genre and sings and plays the daily life of Palestine. Through its music, the ensemble expresses the hopes of a people who love to live, laugh and sing. The ensemble’s repertoire extends from Egypt to Andalusia, passing through various regions and traditions of the Middle East, and adding medieval and jazz accents to a musical confluence of East and West.  On their musical journey, Ramzi Aburedwan and Dal’Ouna bring us into their world, their music, their poetry and traditions. They combine traditional Arab instruments including the bouzouk, the oud, and oriental percussion with viola and accordion. The repertoire ranges from instrumental to traditional poetic genres that focus on love, freedom, and nature. Dal’Ouna is also a story of encounters, shared experiences, a refuge where borders don’t apply, and a message of hope for its members and audiences.  Touring with Dal’Ouna Ensemble in June/July 2015 are: violist and bouzouk player Ramzi Aburedwan, percussionist Tareq Rantisi from Jerusalem, oud player Ziad Ben Youssef from Tunisia, accordion virtuoso Edwin Buger from Yugoslavia, with special guest vocalist Lena Seikaly.

Nidal Ibourk is a virtuous singer and an exceptional scholar in the U.S. Nidal was born in Rabat, Morocco and moved to the U.S. in 2006. Upon graduating with her Bachelor Degree in English Studies from Ibn Tofail University, Nidal received a full scholarship from the U.S. State Department to complete her postgraduate studies at Kent State University. In 2008, she earned her second Bachelor’s in Organizational Communications and recently obtained a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Training and Development.

Her fine music talent and interpretation of much of the Arab traditional music repertoire led to her collaboration with internationally renowned musician such the Violin and Oud master Simon Shaheen. Since 2008, Nidal performed in distinguished venues in Morocco and abroad such as the Festival of Rabat, festival of Marrakech, Festival of Youth Music, Musicana Top 10 and Star Search on MBC channel and the U.S. embassy in Rabat.

What distinguishes Nidal as an artist is her commitment to preserve her cultural heritage and present a genius repertoire of classical Arabic and Moroccan music. Her sophisticated presence on stage is not only reflected through her fine selection of songs, but also through her traditional outfits that shows her pride in her roots. As an active speaker in universities and community events, Nidal has spoken to a wide range of youth on her cultural background and her experience in America as a young successful Singer.

RAMZI ABUREDWAN grew up in the Al Amari refugee camp in Ramallah, where his family took refuge after being driven out of their home in Palestine in 1948.  The violence of the first Palestinian intifada (1987-1993) marked Ramzi’s childhood and adolescence.
 
At age 16, Ramzi participated in a musical workshop, which proved to be a life-changing experience.  From 1996 to 1998 he studied at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah. In 1998-2005, Ramzi received a scholarship to study viola at the National Regional Conservatory of Angers (France). Ramzi graduated with a DEM in viola, and chamber music. At the French conservatory, Ramzi met up with other students with whom he created the Dal’Ouna Ensemble in 2000. Today Ramzi splits his career amongst many projects. He is concert performer, bandleader of Dal’Ouna, musical director, composer and arranger for the Palestine National Arabic Music Ensemble, and viola soloist performing Western classical music with chamber music ensembles and orchestras throughout the Middle East and Europe.
 
Ramzi’s deep engagement with Palestinian youth led him to realize a lifelong dream in 2005: the creation of the Al Kamandjati Association.  Al Kamandjati’s mission is to bring musical education to Palestinian children and, in particular, to those who are most vulnerable – the children of the refugee camps. Al Kamandjati teaches more than 500 children per year from the refugee camps of Al Amari, Jalazon, Tulkarm and Qalandia, in the village of Deir Ghassana, and the cities of Ramallah, Jenin, Gaza City and Hebron in Palestine. In Lebanon, Al Kamandjâti runs music schools in the refugee camps of Bourj el Barajneh and Shatila.

SANDY TOLAN is author of The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, Heart of the Middle East, which has sold more than 250,000 copies in six languages, and his new book, Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land.  He has reported from more than 35 countries, mostly in Latin America and the Middle East, written for more than 40 newspapers and magazines, and produced hundreds of documentaries and features for NPR and Public Radio International. His work has focused on the intersection of land conflicts, racial and ethnic identity, natural resources, and the global economy. He is a co-founder of Homelands Productions, an independent production company focusing on documentary work for public radio. Sandy has garnered more than 25 national and international journalism awards.  He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and an I.F. Stone Fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC-Berkeley, where he taught from 2000-2007.  Currently he is Associate Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.