Growing up in Jordan Maruan Betawi was surrounded by the rich tradition of Arabic music and felt very inspired among others by the music of Marcel Khalife. From early age on he was in touch with Western culture and music through his German mother. His music is nourished by this multicultural background and also by his main instrument, the oud.

Maruan Betawi was born on August 26, 1984 in Irbid, Jordan. Growing up in a multicultural family, Palestinian father and German mother, granted him access to the different musical influences of the world. At the age of 10 he started his own music journey by learning the basics on the piano. He found his true musical calling when he started studying the Oud (Arabic Lute) in 1995. A number of competitions and school concerts followed, distinguishing the young talent.

In 1999, Maruan Betawi joined the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan, bringing him a series of remarkable concert opportunities. Worth mentioning are:

yearly concerts organized by the National Music Conservatory on various notable stages and arenas; his collaboration with ‘Al Hannuna’ Group (Palestinian Folk music), lasting 2 years and counting several events; his participation at ‘Ethno’ summer camp for International music, in Falun, Sweden, granting him first prise; 2 concert collaboration with a Japanese Jazz Group at the Jarash Festival;

In 2005, Maruan Betawi moved to Germany where he started studying engineering. He consistently kept in touch with the world of music and in 2006 joined a local band, performing a mix of latin and pop music with Arabic touches. They soon received recognition and were invited to perform in a series of concerts at the Deggendorf Applied Sciences University and different locations in the area. This experience introduced Maruan Betawi to the world of Flamenco music, thus beginning to deepen his knowledge in guitar playing.

After moving to Munich in 2010 he continued to acquire various contacts within the local music scene. He got to perform during an art exhibition organized by the University of Passau.

In 2012, Maruan Betawi (Oud/Guitar) joined forces with Ismael Betawi (Violin/Cajon), Marliese Glück (Percussion) and Oliver Nözel (Flamenco Guitar) and put all of their creative focus in a new musical project, MAQAMUNDO. The band MAQAMUNDO draws from the richness of the Arabic music by performing well-known pieces and further improving its repertoire with Maruan Betawi’s own compositions. Western music influences inspired the group to follow new ways, intertwining Flamenco sounds with the Arabic character of the Oud.

Since then, Maruan Betawi performed several concerts with MAQAMUNDO in Germany. The most relevant of them being:

July 2012, at the Gasteig Philharmonic Munich; Germany November 2012, ‚EineWeltHaus’; Munich - Germany December 2012, ‘Taqsim’ Studio; Munich - Germany February 2013, ‚EineWeltHaus’; Munich - Germany December 2014 Gasteig, BlackBox - Munich - Germany

In April 2013, Maruan Betawi moved to Abu Dhabi/ UAE were several performances were conducted such as:

September 2015 at 1971 - Design Space - "Garden After" - Sharjah - UAE : Spoken word and Oud performance with Farah Chamma and Ahmad Molham Makki.

December 2015 New York University - Abu Dhabi - UAE: At NYUAD with Farah Chamma, Eleftheria Togia and Ahmad Molham Makki.

in 2016 Maruan Betawi joined the group PAREA which was created by Farah Chamma, performing spoken word poetry and music. Several performances in U.A.E were conducted, such as events at Al Serkal Dubai, Sikka Dubai, Dubai Design district, New York University Abu Dhabi and events in Sharjah.

May 2016 Abu Dhabi Warehouse 421 - Parting words at „Departure Exhibition“: Improvisation together with spoken words.

In end of 2016 / beg of 2017 participating in the project Transforms „I AM MY LANGUAGE“ with the collaboration between Paris and Abu Dhabi cultural ministry as preparation for the Louvre Abu Dhabi opening. The final event was in Manarat Al Saadiyatin Abu Dhabi UAE.

In December 2017, Maruan Betawi moved back to Munich. Since then he continued working on new projects together with the group MAQAMUNDO creating and performing own compositions mainly in Germany and performing in some solo projects such as Dubai Event „Re-igniting the passion and Education Futures“ organized by Al Futtaim Group & performing in London at Rich Mix together with Farrah Chamma & Phelan Burgoyne.

Website www.maruanbetawi.com

Marliese Glück ist freischaffende Perkussionistin und beschäftigt sich seit vielen Jahren mit den verschiedenen Trommelkulturen der Welt. Sie ist besonders fasziniert von der feinen Technik und der Klangvielfalt der orientalischen Perkussion.

Sie konzertiert regelmässig in verschiedenen Formationen der orientalischen Musik, der Alten Musik bis hin zu Jazz und zeitgenössischen Musik-Projekten. Neben MAQAMUNDO ist festes Mitglied des Trio Aman Aman, das orientalisch-mediterrane Lieder völlig neu interpretiert. Ihre Konzerttätigkeit führte sie über Deutschland hinaus nach Österreich, USA, in die Schweiz und die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate.

Mit viel Begeisterung kooperiert Marliese Glück immer wieder mit anderen Kunstformen wie Literatur, Bildender Kunst und Tanz.

Marliese Glück hat ihre musikalische Laufbahn mit einer klassischen Ausbildung am Klavier begonnen. Sie hat Musikwissenschaft in München (LMU) und Barcelona (UAB) studiert und ist ausgebildete Rhythmustrainerin (FMZ München). Sie hat bei führenden Lehrern der orientalischen und historischen Percussion gelernt (Glen Velez, Murat Coskun, Nora Thiele, Firas Hassan u.a.) und ist seit 2019 Teilnehmerin der Tamburi Mundi Frame Drum Academy. Studien zur arabischen Musik allgemein hat sie bei Simon Shaheen, Charbel Rouhana, Layth Sidiq und Prof. Issam El-Mallah absolviert.

Website:www.drumndance.de

Ismael Betawi was born in Jordan, the youngest of three brothers in a multicultural family. As the son of a palestinian father and a german mother, he was fortunate to have an early access to the different worlds of music.

He began his musical education at the age of 7 by dipping his toes into the basics on the piano. Soon thereafter, he moved on to practicing the violin and joining the Orchestra of the National Music Conservatory in Amman, as well as the Palestinian Youth Orchestra in 2004.

Following his move to Germany in 2005, Ismael took up studies in Engineering but never put his passion for music aside. He joined several bands and continued experimenting with various genres and instruments, adding E-Bass and cajon to his instrument collection.

Ismael developed a great interest in everything-music-related and found his new passion in music production and audio engineering, for which he received an audio engineer certificate at HOFA-College in Karlsdorf, Germany.

Ismael is currently a member of the bands MAQAMUNDO and Second Rubato and is active as a music producer and audio engineer working and collaborating with artists worldwide.