Akram Abdulfattah (1990) is a young Palestinian-American violin master who combines jazz with middle eastern and Indian music. Akram’s style creates a world of fusion music that is influenced by Hindu, Turkish, and Persian styles, reflecting the rich legacy and culture of oriental sounds in a modernized fashion.
Akram’s talent received national and international recognition as he formed the youngest Palestinian musical quartet, won prestigious awards and engaged in various international and cross-culture projects, most significantly the Marcel Khalifa Competition, and the National Music Competition for Ensembles.
Between 2009 and 2013, Akram played in almost all of the major Palestinian music projects and participated in several international concerts. He collaborated with respected musicians like Simon Shaheen, Bassam Saba, Kamil Shajrawu, Yousef Hbeich, and performed with singers and pop artists from Palestine and from the Arab world including Mohammed Assaf, Dalal Abu Amny, Nai Barghouthi, Sanaa Mousa, Asalah Nasri, Elham Madfa’e, and Hani Mitwasi. During these years, Akram participated in multiple prestigious international festivals and events in Sweden, North Africa, USA, Lebanon, Arab Gulf, and collaborated with several pop artists on instrumental projects. This eventful period of Akram’s career culminated in touring with Mohammed Assaf as a violin soloist (2013-2015), during which he also composed and recorded Awan’s first album (2014).
Inspired by his love for the Carnatic violinist L. Shankar, Akram made a journey to the far East in 2018 to further refine his music style and combine elements of the Indian music in the Arabic music. This journey led to Akram collaborating with various international artists including Sukkanya Ramgopal, Ambi Subramaniam, Joy Sarkar (India West Bengal) HK Vankatram (India) Omar Faruk Tekbilek (Turkey), and Brian Kean (USA). In 2019, Akram formed the Sirat Trio; an Indo-Arab Instrumental trio in collaboration with Mandola Joy and Rupak Dhamankar.
In 2023, his multinational 5 piece group, (Palestine/Sweden/Italy/Greece/UK) visited the UK for the first time, with highlights being his debut London show at Rich Mix, and festival appearances at Knockengorroch and Cambridge Folk. Akram has a new album due for release this year, alongside further UK and European visits.
