BIDAYAT // LIVE IN MONTREAL
Don’t miss the Canadian premiere of Bidayat / Beginnings in Montreal. Join us on November 21 at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal as we proudly present a new musical project bringing together childhood friends and acclaimed musicians Abdul-Wahab Kayyali (oud) and Salah Eddin Maraqa (qanoun) for an incredible evening of original compositions for oud and qanoun.
Doors open: 7:30 PM
Show time: 8:00 PM
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
Bidayat - Arabic for “Beginnings” - is a new oud and qanoun project by composers and musicians Abdul-Wahab Kayyali (oud) and Salah Eddin Maraqa (qanoun), tracing a musical relationship that began more than three decades ago at the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan.
Childhood friends and descendants of Palestinian refugee families, Kayyali and Maraqa grew up studying classical Arabic music together before their lives took them on divergent paths - Maraqa to Germany and Kayyali to North America. When they reunited on stage in Germany in 2022 after 22 years apart, they found themselves instinctively completing each other’s musical phrases, just as they had growing up.
That encounter became the starting point for Bidayat.
Built entirely around original instrumental compositions arranged for oud and qanoun, Bidayat draws from the shared musical vocabulary the two artists first learned as children and have since developed through decades of composing, performing, teaching, travelling and living across different continents.
Rooted in Arabic maqam and a distinctly Mashriqi musical language, their compositions also carry traces of the places and traditions they have encountered along the way, from European classical music to jazz. Together, they explore the sonic and technical possibilities of two instruments deeply connected to Arabic musical tradition while developing a contemporary sound of their own.
Bidayat is both a return and a departure: a return to the beginnings of Kayyali and Maraqa’s music-making, and the beginning of a new collaboration between two seasoned artists shaped by migration, distance and a shared musical history.
This project is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and produced by MARSM Canada.
ABOUT ABDUL-WAHAB KAYYALI
Described as “a maestro in his own right” by BBC Music Magazine and a “oud virtuoso” by CBC Music, Abdul-Wahab Kayyali studied the oud with Sakher Hattar at the National Music Conservatory of Amman, Jordan. While in Amman, he also received tutelage and guidance from Iraqi oud virtuoso Munir Bashir.
He has performed widely as a soloist and an ensemble member around the world. In 2020, Abdul-Wahab co-founded the world music trio “Les Arrivants” in Montreal with Hamin Honari and Amichai Ben Shalev.
He also released his debut solo album “Juthoor” in 2020.
His projects have gained recognition and support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM), and the Conseil Quebecois de la Musique (CQM). He has most recently collaborated to perform and record with Naseem Alatrash (cello), Tariq Harb (classical guitar), Saeed Farajpouri (kamancheh), Salah Eddin Maraqa (qanoun), Merrie Klazek (trumpet), Haitham Haidar (voice), and ensemble Constantinople.
Kayyali is also passionate about education and knowledge transfer. He has developed online oud seminars for the Labyrinth Online Academy and has participated as a faculty member in Simon Shaheen’s Arabic Music Retreat. He teaches oud privately in person and online. A trained political scientist (PhD, 2018), Kayyali informs his art with the knowledge and training he has received. Since July of 2026, Kayyali has been a Grammy voting member of the Recording Academy.
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ABOUT SALAH EDDIN MARAQA
Salah Eddin is a Palestinian/Jordanian musician, born in 1981 in Amman/Jordan. He began studying the Qanun at the age of nine at the National Music Conservatory. As a child he represented Jordan in outstanding solo performances as well as a member of the conservatory's Arab Ensemble and Orchestra in many local and international music festivals in various Arab and European countreis.
In 1994 the late renowned Iraqi Oud Virtuoso Munir Bashir (1930-1997) became Salah’s musical mentor, and taught him and encouraged him to pursue his musical talent. In November of the same year Salah participated in the Qanun Competition of the Third Arab Music Conference, held at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt, where he presented an exceptional performance that reflected his talent and consequently won him a special prize created especially for him due to his young age.
In 1995 he was awarded the Al-Hussein Gold Medal for Excellence, presented to him by Her Majesty Queen Noor. Since 2000, Salah has been living in Germany, where he has finished his Master's degree and Phd in Musicology at the University of Münster and the University of Würzburg. Aside Ethno-Pop and World Music Salah is concerned with keeping alive a more than a 1000 year old genuine Arabic music heritage.
He has been working with great Musicians playing on the most renowned stages in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Salah Eddin is a member of the renowned ensemble Sarband and the oriental Jazz quartet LebiDerya.
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