Joseph Tawadros Essentials

Performing since age eight, Joseph Tawadros has taken the oud from its traditional Middle Eastern context and reinvented it as a powerful jazz and classical instrument. His genre bending has led to him perform and record with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, as well as with celebrated international names like Béla Fleck, Roy Ayers and Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona. Tawadros is able to lend his playing to anything. Beginning with 2004's Storyteller, he's released an album a year—each different from the last.