Keith Clouston first heard the sound of the Arab lute or oud while teaching English in Constantine, a city high in the Aures Mountains of Eastern Algeria, North Africa. He went on to study with Khaled Bessa at the Rachidia Music Institute in Tunis and then with a number of Arab teachers in London including the Egyptian Essam Rashad, Palestinian Adel Salameh and Iraqi Ehsan Emam, both of them former students of the late, great oud master, Munir Bashir.
Since then, Keith has gone on to record and tour as oud player and guitarist with world music diva Natacha Atlas, his oud playing featuring on her French top 20 single 'Mon amie la rose’ and albums 'Halim' and 'Gedida' . Performance credits with Natacha included Shepherds Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury Festival, (watch from 26'05") 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 a musician and then 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's interest in traditional British folk music was rekindled.
For more info on Keith's theatre career go to keithcloustonmusic.com (pc version only)
Keith has also played oud for several years with Rivers of Babylon, a group set up by SOAS 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 several recitations at JW3 of 'Selichot', traditional Hebrew prayers. He also played at the 2019 Baghdad Hangings memorial service at Bevis Marks Synagogue.
He is currently playing with Judeo-Arabic music band 3yin. Recently 3yin played two sell-out gigs at JW3 accompanying the presentation of graphic novel The Wolf of Baghdad by cartoonist 'The Surreal McCoy' aka accordionist Carol Isaacs. 3yin recently played at the The Wolf of Baghdad première at the UK Jewish Film Festival and were scheduled to appear at the 2020 Songlines festival at Kings Place, London N1: cancelled due to COVID-19.
Since then, Keith has gone on to record and tour as oud player and guitarist with world music diva Natacha Atlas, his oud playing featuring on her French top 20 single 'Mon amie la rose’ and albums 'Halim' and 'Gedida' . Performance credits with Natacha included Shepherds Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury Festival, (watch from 26'05") 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 a musician and then 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's interest in traditional British folk music was rekindled.
For more info on Keith's theatre career go to keithcloustonmusic.com (pc version only)
Keith has also played oud for several years with Rivers of Babylon, a group set up by SOAS 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 several recitations at JW3 of 'Selichot', traditional Hebrew prayers. He also played at the 2019 Baghdad Hangings memorial service at Bevis Marks Synagogue.
He is currently playing with Judeo-Arabic music band 3yin. Recently 3yin played two sell-out gigs at JW3 accompanying the presentation of graphic novel The Wolf of Baghdad by cartoonist 'The Surreal McCoy' aka accordionist Carol Isaacs. 3yin recently played at the The Wolf of Baghdad première at the UK Jewish Film Festival and were scheduled to appear at the 2020 Songlines festival at Kings Place, London N1: cancelled due to COVID-19.
