Muchid Al Khalaf

Muchid Alkhalaf started to study music at the age of 10; and soon oud (Lute) lessons at the Youth conservatoire of Music in Damascus became at the center of his musical interest despite the other classical Violin and Keyboard courses.

At the age of 14, Muchid joined “Alfarah” (Joy) chorus group (one of the largest church choirs in the Middle East) as an oud player and participated in their numerous recitals. Moreover, the young artist had the chance to live his first professional recording experience when he performed Oud solos in one of Alfarah’s albums at the age of 15.

Muchid arrived to Canada in 1993 and soon started being actively involved in artistic events both at the high-school where he studied, and in community performances. In 1995, and due to time restrictions, Muchid chose to stop pursuing Violin classes that had become very time consuming, and focus on regular science studies. However, music never stopped to be his number one passion and hobby, thus artistic research, practice, and concerts continued in parallel with school.

Very active in the music domain, Muchid performed at various community shows over the years and also participated in several artistic events such as the Festival de la Chanson Folklorique de Marieville, the Festival du Monde Arabe, and the Festival des Musiques et du Monde as a member of the groups the BackStrings and “Aghanina”.

In 2000, Muchid performed traditional melodies at the Céline Dion & René Angélil Marriage Vows Renewal Ceremony in Las Vegas.

In 2001, Muchid co-composed and recorded the theme music for a documentary movie called “Mohammet” that was broadcasted on the channel ARTV in Europe.

In 2002, the young oud player became a member of the folkloric group Aghanina that features 9 musicians and about 20 singers presenting classical and popular Middle Eastern songs.

In 2004, Muchid co-founded the group BACKstrings which is now composed of 7 artists playing mainly acoustic strings instruments and promoting instrumental oriental melodies arranged in a new creative fashion.

Muchid obtained a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from Concordia University in 2002. He believes that there are no limits to one’s dreams and aspirations especially when it comes to performing on oud.