Joseph Tawadros was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1983. Immigrating to Australia in 1986, he brought with him a musical tradition inherited from his maternal grandfather, Mansi Habib (1920-1957), an active composer and an oud and violin virtuoso in Cairo. Tawadros’ uncle, Yacoub Mansi Habib, is an active professional Egyptian musician and recognised as one of the pioneering figures in Egyptian trumpet playing, also influenced his musical interest immensely. Joseph Tawadros has studied with Mohamed Youssef, a renowned oud player, jazz pianist and family friend. Youssef encouraged Joseph to explore the musical parameters of the oud and the traditional Egyptian taqasim, a performing style akin to improvisation. This, combined with tremendous talent, has resulted in Joseph Tawadros’ personal style being uniquely instinctive in his music's improvised content.
Joseph Tawadros has performed at the Sydney Opera House, Cairo Opera House, Alexandria Opera House, Huntington Classical Music Festival, Womadelaide, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, City Recital Hall Angel Place, National Multicultural Festival, VillaCellemontana (Italy), Institute Du Monde Arabe (Paris) with such artists as tabla master Zakir Hussain, sarangi master Sultan Khan, Slava Grigoryan, Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, James Crabbe, Christian Lindberg, Neil Finn, Abdo Dagher, William Barton, Karin Schaupp, Bobby Singh and Katie Noonan to name a few.
In 2004 Joseph was invited to perform at the WOMAD festival in Adelaide as a solo artist, in this he also took part in the All-Star jam session in front of an audience 30,000 people. This platform allowed Joseph to perform with Malian Band Tinirawen, Irish Band Kila, Sarangi Master Ustad Sultan Khan and his Indian percussionists, Algerian singer Hamid Baroudi, Didgeridoo player Mark Atkins and Tabla Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, who had chosen the musicians for the collaboration. Joseph was also nominated for young Australian of there in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
In 2005, Joseph completed his Bachelor of Music with Honours at the University of NSW, majoring in performance and composition.
Joseph has recently (February 2006) completed a very successful 11 concert national tour with his percussionist brother James Tawadros and The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) with seven of Joseph’s compositions being performed by this prestigious ensemble (pieces for oud, chamber orchestra and percussion)- led by the charismatic artist director and lead violinist Richard Tognetti.
Joseph has also composed for film, with his music featuring the Documentaries, I Remember Palestine, The Last Days of Yasser Arafat and short film Haneen. He is currently working on music for animations with film maker Michael Roseth.
Joseph has released three Cds Storyteller –Solo Oud (ABC Classics 2004), Rouhani - with Bobby Singh (ABC Classics 2005) and Visions (JT 2005).
‘Storyteller’ (ABC Classics)was nominated for an ARIA award for the Best World Music album 2004 and his latest album Visions has been nominated for an ARIA for Best World Music Album 2006.
Hey! How's the King of the Oud? I've been playing cümbüş alot and of course, Darbuka. Also been getting my Central Asian groove on with the Armenian/Georgian Dhol/Doli. Cheers.
.. Hey Joseph! Maybe you can catch up and see the thing I do - I'm hoping you can help make this tour a great success for us - the Empire is especially shaping up to be a great night, and I'd love to see you there.
Every time that we listen or write music... play an instrument... dance... act in a play... or work in some audio/image/video engineering process... Something is healing inside...
When we share it with friends... Something is healing all over...
Thanks for adding me. Awesome music, insane playing. You and your brother are truly inspiring, and ended up making me buying an Oud and a Riq, now I get my ass kicked for months to come... God Bless...
