
Keith Clouston first heard the oud on the radio while teaching English in Constantine, a city high in the Aurès Mountains of Eastern Algeria. He went on to study with Khaled Bessa at the Rachidia Music Institute in Tunis and then with a number of teachers in London including the Egyptian Essam Rashad, Palestinian Adel Salameh and Iraqi Ehsan Emam, the last two former students of the late, great Iraqi oud maestro, Munir Bashir.
Since then, Keith has recorded and toured as oud player and electric guitarist with world music diva Natacha Atlas, his oud playing featuring on her French top 20 single 'Mon amie la rose’ and top 20 album 'Gedida' . Performance credits with Natacha include Shepherds Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury Festival, (watch from 26'05"), 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. He has also played the Miles Davis Hall at the Montreux Jazz Festival with Peter Culshaw's eclectic Mira Ensemble.
From 1996-2013 Keith worked first as a musician, mainly oud, 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 see Theatre or go to keithcloustonmusic.com (NB laptop/pc version only)
Keith has also played oud for several years with Rivers of Babylon, a group established 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 Spanish & Portuguese 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.
Keith is currently oud and Algerian mondol player in Judeo-Arabic music group 3yin - see The Wolf of Baghdad.
Since then, Keith has recorded and toured as oud player and electric guitarist with world music diva Natacha Atlas, his oud playing featuring on her French top 20 single 'Mon amie la rose’ and top 20 album 'Gedida' . Performance credits with Natacha include Shepherds Bush Empire, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury Festival, (watch from 26'05"), 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. He has also played the Miles Davis Hall at the Montreux Jazz Festival with Peter Culshaw's eclectic Mira Ensemble.
From 1996-2013 Keith worked first as a musician, mainly oud, 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 see Theatre or go to keithcloustonmusic.com (NB laptop/pc version only)
Keith has also played oud for several years with Rivers of Babylon, a group established 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 Spanish & Portuguese 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.
Keith is currently oud and Algerian mondol player in Judeo-Arabic music group 3yin - see The Wolf of Baghdad.