Keith Clouston first heard the sound of the oud while teaching English in Constantine, a city high in the Aures Mountains of Eastern Algeria, North Africa. He went on to study oud with Khaled Bessa at the Rachidia Music Institute in Tunis and then with a variety of Arab teachers in London including the Egyptian Essam Rashad, Palestinian Adel Salameh and Iraqi Ehsan Emam.
Keith has recorded and toured as oud player and guitarist with world music diva Natacha Atlas and his playing featured on her French top 20 single 'Mon amie la rose’ and album 'Gedida' . Performance credits with Natacha included Shepherds Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Paris Olympia, Later with Jools Holland as well as sessions for the Andy Kershaw Show (BBC Radio 1) , Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4), and BBC Radio London plus tours of Europe, USA, and Brazil.
From 1996-2013 Keith worked first as musician and later as composer for theatre productions at the Old Vic, Barbican, National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, the latter including tours of Britain, Ireland, the USA, Mexico and India. Having been a keen folk singer at school and university, it was while researching and then composing new melodies for folk songs and dances featured in Shakespeare's plays that Keith renewed his interest in traditional British folk music.
For more info on Keith's theatre career go to keithcloustonmusic.com
Keith has also played oud for several years with Rivers of Babylon, a group set up by ethnomusicologist Dr Sara Manasseh to keep alive the 2,500 year old Babylonian Jewish music tradition of Iraq. Recently, Keith has played oud at the Jewish Museum, London NW1, providing musical ambiance for events linked to 'Sephardi Voices', a celebration of the lives and culture of North African, Middle Eastern and Iranian Jews. He has also accompanied Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community of the UK, in a recitation at JW3 of 'Selichot', traditional Hebrew prayers.
He is currently playing with new Jewish Arab music band 3yin. Recently 3yin played two sell-out gigs at JW3 accompanying the presentation of a graphic novel The Wolf of Baghdad by cartoonist 'The Surreal McCoy' aka accordionist Carol Isaacs.
Keith has recorded and toured as oud player and guitarist with world music diva Natacha Atlas and his playing featured on her French top 20 single 'Mon amie la rose’ and album 'Gedida' . Performance credits with Natacha included Shepherds Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Paris Olympia, Later with Jools Holland as well as sessions for the Andy Kershaw Show (BBC Radio 1) , Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4), and BBC Radio London plus tours of Europe, USA, and Brazil.
From 1996-2013 Keith worked first as musician and later as composer for theatre productions at the Old Vic, Barbican, National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, the latter including tours of Britain, Ireland, the USA, Mexico and India. Having been a keen folk singer at school and university, it was while researching and then composing new melodies for folk songs and dances featured in Shakespeare's plays that Keith renewed his interest in traditional British folk music.
For more info on Keith's theatre career go to keithcloustonmusic.com
Keith has also played oud for several years with Rivers of Babylon, a group set up by ethnomusicologist Dr Sara Manasseh to keep alive the 2,500 year old Babylonian Jewish music tradition of Iraq. Recently, Keith has played oud at the Jewish Museum, London NW1, providing musical ambiance for events linked to 'Sephardi Voices', a celebration of the lives and culture of North African, Middle Eastern and Iranian Jews. He has also accompanied Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community of the UK, in a recitation at JW3 of 'Selichot', traditional Hebrew prayers.
He is currently playing with new Jewish Arab music band 3yin. Recently 3yin played two sell-out gigs at JW3 accompanying the presentation of a graphic novel The Wolf of Baghdad by cartoonist 'The Surreal McCoy' aka accordionist Carol Isaacs.