Raed El Khazen is a Lebanese guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is primarily known for his fusion of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and rock, as well as his versatile

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

guitar playing with a distinctive sound influenced by oriental and other world music – best represented on his album Ghosts and Shadows, released in 2016. His tour history includes performing in his native Lebanon as well as United States, Brazil, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Syria and Guinea Equatorial.

Musical career

Born in Lebanon and raised during the 15-year

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

, Raed El Khazen began playing guitar at the age of nineteen. While studying civil engineering in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, he performed at small gigs but ultimately dropped out in 1992 to pursue a career in music. He was initially drawn to blues guitarists such as

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

Albert King Albert King ( Nelson; April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps best known for his popular and ...

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

, and

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

, focusing primarily on blues-driven music. In 1996, El Khazen received a scholarship to attend

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts. There, he was introduced to the music of

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a ...

, and

Grant Green Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Green has been called one of the "most sampled guitarists." Biography Grant Green was born on June 6, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, to John and ...

. Immersing himself in

and

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

, he spent the next decade studying various eras of jazz and

African-American music African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their African-American culture, culture. Its origins are in musical forms that developed as a result of the Slavery in ...

. During this time, he studied privately with John Abercrombie and attended master classes and clinics with

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

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, and others. After graduating, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he lived and worked from 2000 to 2010. In New York, he collaborated with both emerging and established artists, including Avishai Cohen, Jojo Meyer,

Kermit Driscoll James "Kermit" DriscollSmith, Steve"Driscoll, Kermit".''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 December 2022. (born March 4, 1956) is an American jazz bassist. He is known for his long association with guitarist Bill Frisell i ...

, Derek Neirvelgelt, Manu Koch, Stephane Mercier, Ben Zwerin, Juancho Herrera,

Chris Cheek Christopher Carson Cheek (born September 16, 1968) is an American jazz saxophonist. Biography Cheek was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was the director of a Junior high school band. Cheek began learning to play the alto saxophone ...

, Zach Jones,

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album ''Chariot (album), Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB/The CW, ...

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, Aaron Johnston, Didi Gutman, and

Jesse Murphy Brazilian Girls is a band from New York, United States, known for their eclectic blend of electronic dance music with musical styles as diverse as tango, chanson, house, reggae and lounge (but no Brazilian rhythms at all). None of the members ...

, among others. As the leader of the New Light Quartet, he worked alongside Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Daniele Camarda (bass guitar), and Marko Djordjevic (drums). The group recorded an album titled Shadow Hunting, though it remains officially unreleased. In 2008, he recorded the album Losing My Reality with the New York rock band Running Still for

East West Records East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City. History After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit wit ...

, a label of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. The album was later released under the title Running Still by lead singer Asi Meskin in 2025. In 2010, Raed El Khazen returned to

, where he spent the next six years primarily producing emerging Arab artists, including

Mashrou' Leila Mashrou' Leila (, ), sometimes transliterated as Mashrou3 Leila () or translated as "Leila's Project", was a Lebanese four-member Rock music, indie rock band from Beirut. It was formed in 2008 as a music workshop at the American University of Beir ...

, Tanjaret Daghet, and Hello Psychaleppo. During this period, he also composed music for film and television, contributing to The Mountain (2010) by

Ghassan Salhab Ghassan Salhab (Arabic; غسان سلهب, born 4 May 1958) is a Lebanon, Lebanese screenwriter and film director born in Dakar, Senegal. In addition to making his own films, he collaborates on various scenarios and teaches film in Lebanon. He ...

, Blind Intersections (2012) by Lara Saba, and Yalla Aa'belkon (2015) by Elie Khalife. El Khazen independently recorded his album Ghosts and Shadows, collaborating with musicians Walid Sadek (trumpet), Tarek Khuluki (synths, Tanjaret Daghet), Dani Shukri (drums, Tanjaret Daghet), and Derek Nievergelt (bass, production). The album is best described as a sonic exploration blending Arab cultural influences with Western instrumentation.

Song Releases

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khazen, Raed 1973 births Living people 21st-century Lebanese male singers Arab musicians Lebanese guitarists Lead guitarists Blues rock musicians Electric blues musicians Contemporary blues musicians Warner Records artists