www.waneeszarour.com
wbz@uchicago.edu
Wanees Zarour is an award winning Palestinian-American composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist steeped in maqam and jazz music. His compositional and arranging styles transcend borders and draw from traditions spanning the entire globe. He is a community leader who believes in creating an environment that is conducive to artistic expression and collective music making. Zarour directs the Middle East Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago, co-directs the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, and leads 'East Loop,' a septet that explores the intersections between the maqam and jazz traditions.
Born into a family of musicians, Zarour started his Western classical training on the violin at the age of 7 at the Edward Said Conservatory of Music where he showed extraordinary talent and fast advancement in his musical education. A few years after, Zarour started his training in Maqam, Middle Eastern Repertoire, the Arab violin tradition and picked up the buzuq, a long-necked chordophone most common in the Levant region. Learning from the masters, Zarour was able to acquire an extensive knowledge in maqam, Middle Eastern musical forms and rhythms. Zarour is a virtuoso on the buzuq, in addition to playing the oud, violin and percussion.
Now based in Chicago since 2003, Zarour founded Duzan Ensemble (2007) performing traditional Arab and Turkish music. In 2005 he joined the faculty at the Old Town School of Folk Music, teaching Rhythms, Maqam, Improvisation and Middle Eastern Ensemble classes for tenure that lasted a decade.
In 2010, Zarour became the director of the Middle East Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago, which grew under his watch to become a 50-to-60-piece orchestra that performs Turkish, Arab and Persian music in front of large audiences. At the ensemble, Zarour works on building a cohesive community of musicians and artists around the ensemble, and transcribes and arranges all the music that is performed by the group. With a large following, the ensemble performs four concerts per year to a sold-out audience, featuring guest artists from around the world.
In 2014, with the support of al-Qattan Foundation in Palestine, Wanees Zarour released his well-received debut album, 'Quarter to Midnight' and founded the Wanees Zarour ensemble. A 10-piece ensemble with percussionist Tareq Rantisi, Guitarist Alex Wing, Flutist Elizabeth Diaz, Clarinetist Thanasi Athanassiadis and Bassist Nick Macri, as well as a rotating string quartet. (recorded with Phyllis Sanders, Robert Fisher, Hannah Vis and Geeta Abad). In this album, Wanees Zarour showcased his diverse compositional toolbox by using complex rhythms and melting together several musical traditions such as Jazz, Brazilian, Arab, Turkish and Western classical to create cohesive instrumental pieces. The project performed in several cities in the United States in 2015.
In 2018 Zarour launched is newest project, 'The East Loop' with Sam Mosching (guitar), Chris Shuttleworth (trombone), Bryan Pardo (sax), Nick Kabat (drums) and Vinny Kabat (bass). This project explores the intersection between maqam and jazz. An album is slated for release in 2022.
In 2020, Wanees Zarour along with guitarist Fareed Haque were approached to co-direct the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra by the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and gave their first concert in 2020 at the Chicago World Music Festival. In 2021 Wanees Zarour was award the Chicago Esteemed Artist Award.