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Firas Andari
Firas Andari is a Beirut-based singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, and actor. Born in Lebanon in 1997, he started singing at age 6 the nineteenth-century classical Maqam music of the Arab and Ottoman regions. At age 12, he began studying this music with Dr. Hayyaf Yassine. Three years later, he joined Antonine University to study oud-playing professionally with Mustafa Said. Andari is one of a few musicians who still perform and teach classical Arabic and Maqam music. And yet, far from being conservative in its approach, his musical creation is resolutely innovative. Firmly rooted in the canonical origins of the Arabic Maqam and sourced from its historical repertoire, Andari’s work forges its own contemporary language. It does so without borrowing from other musical genres—a path rarely taken in Arabic music over the last century.
Committed to musical practice as well as study, Andari performs classical Arabic Maqam music, folk music, and Egyptian pop music regularly across Beirut in venues such as Barzakh, Metro Al Madina, and Now Beirut. His latest big concert in classical Arabic music was in December 2023 at the Beirut Chants festival at beirut Souks
He brought his singing and multi-instrumental skills to the OneBeat Lebanon residency program in 2021. He won the AFAC grant for music to produce his first original album.
As an educator, Andari teaches in many unique music shcools, He also offers private oud and vocal lessons. Previously, he taught with the non-profit Action for Hope, where he led vocal and oud workshops for underserved youth in the Bekaa Valley (2018-2021).
His passion for classical Arabic music led Andari to work as an in-house recording engineer, live technician, and repairer of shellac vinyl recordings at the Foundation for Arab Music Archiving & Research (AMAR, 2019-2020), where he absorbed a tremendous classical Arabic repertoire.
Also an actor, Andari has performed on the stage at Metro Al Madina since 2012. In 2010, he starred in the award-winning web series Shankaboot.