I've been very fortunate to have worked with a number of wonderful and interesting musicians in the past including: violinist Hanna Khoury, Cellist Kinan Abou-Afach, percussionists Michel Baklouk, Karim Nagi, Souhail Kaspar, & Catherine Alexander, clarinteist Don Byron (a long time ago), Shakira, the amazing musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Qanun player Jamal Sinno, Drummer Jimmy Paxson Jr., Bassist Danny Dunlap, Vocalist & Ud player Naser Musa, Klezmer clarinetists Ilene Stahl and Margot Levert, the Boston Camerata and many, many others.
Kareem Roustom is an award-winning composer who has composed music for film, television, the concert hall and album projects. Steeped in the musical traditions of the Arab Near East and trained in Western music, Roustom is a musically bi-lingual composer who has collaborated with a wide variety of artists ranging from the Philadelphia Orchestra to Shakira. An active composer of film music, he has scored a number of short and feature-length films, and his score for the award-winning documentary Encounter Point earned him the Best Musical Score Award at the 2006 Bend International Film Festival. Of his recent score for Amreeka, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, the Hollywood Reporter wrote "Kareem Roustom's Middle Eastern-flavored score contributes greatly." Amreeka recently won the Internation Critic's Award at the Director's Fortnight during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and has been nominated for 3 Spirit Awards. For his score to "Budrus Has a Hammer" Variety Magazine wrote "A strong string, wind and percussion score by Kareem Roustom adds to the momentum and underlines key moments."
As a concert composer Roustom has been commissioned by, or had performances with groups such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Boston Children's Chorus, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Sinfonia, members of the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra, cellist Jason Calloway's X-Band, the Firebird Ensemble and others. New music pieces in progress include "Mosaic I for Solo Cello", a large choral commission for Easter of 2010 based on the poetry of Khalil Gibran and an orchestral work for the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra for a December 2009 premiere. New CDs include a recording of "Buhur" for clarinet & string trio by the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble and "Hot Tea, Mint & Olives" for piano and children's choir by the Boston Children's Chorus.
As an arranger Kareem has worked in a wide variety of idioms that range from pop, to jazz to classical Arabic music. Most notably Kareem arranged strings for the Shakira and Beynoce' duet "Beautiful Liar." The song became the fastest rising single in Billbaord history and was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award (Best Pop Vocal duet). Kareem also wrote a string arrangement for Shakira's duet performance of "Hips Don't Lie" with Wyclef Jean at the 2007 Grammy Awards. Kareem was back in the studio with Shakira in July of 2008. Recently, Kareem has collaborated with the Los Angeles based songwriting duo Fiction (Vince Pizzinga & Kate Akhurst).
An active composer for film Kareem has scored a number of short and feature-length films and his score for the award-winning documentary Encounter Point was awarded the Best Musical Score Award at the 2006 Bend International Film Festival. Kareem recently completed the score to "Amreeka" a feature film by director Cherien Dabis. "Amreeka" will be premiering at a major film festival in 2009 (more details soon.) Kareem recently completed scoring the documentary "The Mosque In Morgantown" which will air on nationwide television (USA) on PBS in 2009.
As a performer Roustom has performed in the USA, Canada and Europe at such venerable spaces as the Kennedy Center, UCLA's Royce Hall, Symphony Space and the United Nations in New York city, Place Des Arts in Montreal and live on Radio France in Paris. While on a U.S. tour with the renowned early music group The Boston Camerata the Boston Globe wrote that Kareem was "eloquent on the oud", the Chicago Tribune that he "....played with flair and confidence" and the Los Angles Times that he "shined".
Kareem has recorded and/or produced music for Epic Records, Warner Brothers Classics, Fuller Street Music, Xauen Music and others.
Watch the Trailer for "The Mosque In Morgantown" Airing on PBS on June 15th 2009.
Watch the Trailer for "Amreeka" winner of the the FIPRESCI (Intl. Federation of Film Critics) Critics Award at Directors Fortnight Cannes Film Festival 2009. Music by Kareem Roustom.
heppa kareem thanx 4 the friendship and your very beautiful music. i wish you all the best with your music-projects;-) greetings from the swiss-mountains peace and love for all martin
BRIAN BENDER & THE WORLD BEATNIKS - "Urban Jungle" Original Reggae, Funk, Afrobeat, Calypso, Samba, Second Line compositions.
With special guests: Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce) Adam Deitch (John Scofield, Lettuce) Charles Neville (Neville Brothers) Jose Gonzalez (Bando Criollo)
BRIAN BENDER & LITTLE SHOP OF HORAS- "Eyn Velt" Original and traditional Jewish melodies blended with Latin, Caribbean, African and Middle Eastern rhythms.
With special guests: Frank London (Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave) Alicia Svigals (Klezmatics, Mikveh) Stuart Brotman (Brave Old World) Charles Neville (Neville Brothers) Grant Smith (Klezmer Conservatory Band) Raquy Danziger (Raquy & The Cavemen) Backa Niang (Gokhi-Bi System)
Kareem thank you so much for your add, for your friendship also. Your melodies are grate and its pleasure to hear your creative. Its happiness for me your visit to my space. All best wishes
Hello Kareem, Thank you for your nice comment, it's a pleasure to meet you here and hear your truly amazing compositions, I just bought a Turkish Oud and I'm attempting to learn how to play it, so I really appreciate what you do!
All the best in your musical endeavors Kareem, I'm honored to be your friend
Just got back from the Baltic Sea. Had planned to write but instead got caught up in the beauty of the waves, home cooked meals, listening to the winds and re-connecting with family.
Building sand castles and throwing driftwood to a crazed happy puppydog, all part of the magic. Can one sing silence? No new songs, but many new fresh images...memories lost, recovered. Have a beautiful weekend, Kara
Paths X album now at itunes:)
Currently free download of Different Planes. Embracing all planes of reality.
