The New York Oud Festival is a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that displays the oud and its versatility as it exists in New York's diverse musical culture. The NYOF celebrates the oud and its wide-ranging influence on global music culture, showcasing artists from a multitude of traditions and contexts, and demonstrating why the oud continues to be one of the world's most beloved instruments. 
www.newyorkoudfestival.com

NY Oud Festival Day 6 | Tomchess, Rachid Halihal
8pm (7:30 doors)
Tuesday May 27th 2025
Sisters - 900 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11238
$25 advance ($30 door)

Day 6 of the festival will feature sets by oudists Tomchess and Rachid Halihal.  Seating is limited and first-come first-serve. 

Rachid Halihal is a master oud player, rooted in rich traditions of North African and Mid-Eastern music. Born and trained in Morocco, he brings the soulful melodies and intricate techniques of the oud to life, playing Andalus, classical Arabic, and folk styles.  

Rachid has played at the Kennedy Center as well as the United Nations, MoMA, Lincoln Center, Yale, and CUNY, and various embassy events in Washington D.C. He had a teaching residency with San Francisco's ZAWAYA Arabic cultural organization's orchestra, and has performed at festivals throughout the US, Scandinavia, and Canada.  Rachid’s audiences can expect a captivating experience of dynamic rhythms and enchanting sounds of one of the world’s most revered instruments, the oud. 

Tomchess is a Pittsburgh/NYC based multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and composer who has played and recorded with some of the most esteemed players in the improvisational and Jazz scene (Dewey Redman, Butch Morris, Pharoah Sanders, Drew Gress, Ronald Shannon Jackson), as well as Moroccan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun. Having deeply studied the Near Eastern and North African traditions, his syncretic sound encompasses the tonal palette, rhythms, and forms of these traditional musics as well as focusing on the transcendent unity of all human culture and the importance and freedom of improvisation. He has performed in Africa, Canada, Europe, Turkey, and India. He has performed at Lincoln Center, The David Rubinstein Atrium, The United Nations among countless other venues in the United States. He has performed on NPR and PBS and played on Grammy Nominated recordings. He has been awarded grants from the Turkish American Society and The Maryland Council For The Arts. He has been nominated for an Independent Music Award.  Tomchess embraces the idea that improvised musics promote collective and individual development, spontaneously creating common languages that alter perceptions and encourage us to imagine different alternatives in music and life, working towards creating a more beautiful world for all.


The New York Oud Festival is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.