Issa Boulos

Boulos was born in Jerusalem in 1968. He grew up in a musical family in Ramallah and studied music as a child, including the oud at the Institute of Fine Arts.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2004-05-14 |title=The world at hand |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/05/14/the-world-at-hand-2/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250125225256/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/05/14/the-world-at-hand-2/ |archive-date=2025-01-25 |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Carnig |first=Jennifer |date=2004-11-04 |title=Middle East Music Ensemble: Group takes anthropological approach to music-making |url=http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/041104/mideast-music.shtml |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=University of Chicago Chronicle}} In his early career, he created over 200 compositions and directed several musical groups, including a dance troupe called Al-Funoun.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2006-12-29 |title=International flights |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/12/29/international-flights/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250125231331/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/12/29/international-flights/ |archive-date=2025-01-25 |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}{{cite web |last=Romero |first=Angel |date=20 November 2018 |title=Artist Profiles: Issa Boulos |url=https://worldmusiccentral.org/2018/11/20/artist-profiles-issa-boulos/ |access-date=December 7, 2020 |website=World Music Central}}

Boulos first travelled to the US in 1986.{{Cite news |date=2005-01-09 |title=Palestinians Vote in Presidential Elections; Interview With Ricky Martin |url=https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/sm/date/2005-01-09/segment/01 |work=CNN}} After several visits to Chicago, he moved there in the 1990s and studied music composition, first at Columbia College Chicago and later at Roosevelt University. His teachers at the latter included Robert Lombardo. In 1995, he became a US citizen. Beginning in 1998, he directed the Middle East Music Ensemble at University of Chicago, which performed classical Arabic music and featured instruments like ouds, baglamas, nays, qanuns, and darbukkahs. He also taught at the University{{cite web |date=May 5, 2010 |title=Global Notes: Chicago Oud Masters Perform in Studio - WBEZ |url=https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/global-notes-chicago-oud-masters-perform-in-studio/06126e63-1530-4d31-a9c1-6b5844658789 |access-date=May 27, 2016 |publisher=WBEZ}} and founded the Issa Boulos Quartet, which played Arabic jazz.

In September 2006, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra appeared at the World Music Festival for the first time where they and Boulos's Radio Maqam Ensemble performed some of Boulos's compositions. The orchestra also performed pieces by Tan Dun and Chen Yi.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2006-09-16 |title=CSO's take on world music |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/09/16/csos-take-on-world-music/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250125225104/https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/09/16/csos-take-on-world-music/ |archive-date=2025-01-25 |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Khoury |first=Suhail |title=Palestine's Contribution to the World Music Scene |url=https://thisweekinpalestine.com/palestines-contribution-to-the-world-music-scene/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=This Week in Palestine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Kendrick |first=Peter Margasak, Monica |date=2006-09-14 |title=The Reader's Guide to the World Music Festival |url=https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/the-readers-guide-to-the-world-music-festival-2/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Chicago Reader |language=en-US}} In an interview later that year with the Chicago Tribune, Boulos described maqam as "a bunch of melodies that are congenial to each other. Kind of like having a love affair between two people who are tied together and there are certain rules that determine the relationship and movement of the sounds."

Rif (Countryside) was released in 2007, featuring Nermin Kaygusuz playing Boulos's compositions for the kemence. The instrumental music was inspired by elements of the Mediterranean, including fig trees, soil, and dew. One track, "Raqsat al-Khityar", is about an elderly man dancing at a wedding after his wife's death.

The following year, Al-Hallaj was released, which Boulos had composed based on the work of the eponymous Sufi poet. The album was recorded in Ramallah with several musicians, including two of his former students. Boulos contributed oud and vocals. One reviewer called him "an Arab-American intellectual powerhouse whose work is highly significant in maintaining musical artistry little appreciated by Arab societies."{{Cite web |last=Asmar |first=Sami |date=2009 |title=Issa Boulos Brings al-Hallaj back to Life |url=https://aljadid.com/content/issa-boulos-brings-al-hallaj-back-life |access-date=2025-01-25 |website= Al Jadid}}

In the 2010s, Boulos headed the Arab Music Department at Qatar Music Academy.{{Cite web |date=2013-08-21 |title=Global Notes: Music born from conflict |url=https://www.wbez.org/worldview/2013/08/21/global-notes-music-born-from-conflict |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=WBEZ |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2014-06-08 |title=Tribute to a legend |url=https://www.gulf-times.com/story/395321/tribute-to-a-legend |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Gulf Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Toumi |first=Habib |date=2018-09-15 |title=Qatar concerts to foster music appreciation |url=https://gulfnews.com/lifestyle/qatar-concerts-to-foster-music-appreciation-1.1195897 |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Gulf News |language=en}} He later co-edited an anthology about the music and culture of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, entitled Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation (2021).{{Cite journal |last=Horowitz |first=Amy |date=2022-05-06 |title=Amy Horowitz - Review of Issa Boulos, Virginia Danielson and Anne K. Rasmussen, editors, Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jfrr/article/view/39941/42146 |journal=Journal of Folklore Research Reviews |language=en |issn=2832-8132}}{{Cite journal |last=Shannon |first=Jonathan H. |date=June 2022 |title=Music in Arabia: Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation by Issa Boulos, Virginia Danielson, and Anne K. Rasmussen, eds. |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/719316 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Research |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=267–268 |doi=10.1086/719316 |issn=0091-7710|url-access=subscription }}

Boulos has researched 20th century Palestinian music.{{Cite web |last=Samadani |first=Cecilia |title=Middle Eastern Languages Department hosts lecture on 20th century Palestinian music |url=https://thecarletonian.com/19544/arts-and-features/middle-eastern-languages-department-hosts-lecture-on-20th-century-palestinian-music/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=The Carletonian}}{{Cite web |last=Tsigka |first=Celia |title=Soundwaves of expression: how music shapes social consciousness |url=https://www.snfdialogues.org/en/topics/soundwaves-of-expression-how-music-shapes-social-consciousness/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dialogues |language=en-US}} He completed a PhD in ethnomusicology from Leiden University in 2020 with a dissertation entitled "The Palestinian music-making experience in the West Bank, 1920s to 1959: Nationalism, colonialism, and identity".{{Cite web |title=Alumni |url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/humanities/academy-of-creative-and-performing-arts/acpa-alumni/alumni-of-acpa |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Leiden University |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-10-13 |title=The 'Disappearance' of George Kirmiz: Unravelling a Palestinian Musical Mystery |url=https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-disappearance-of-george-kirmiz-unravelling-a-palestinian-musical-mystery/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Palestine Chronicle |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |last=Hofland |first=Thomas |date=2024-01-19 |title=Brehony, Louis. Palestinian Music in Exile: Voices of Resistance |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |volume=46 |pages=77–79 |doi=10.13169/arabstudquar.46.1.0077 |issn=0271-3519|doi-access=free }} In his 2013 article "Negotiating the Elements: Palestinian Freedom Songs from 1967 to 1987", Boulos writes about influential Palestinian musicians, including Mustafa al-Kurd and the group al-Baraem.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-13 |title=Of Course Lowkey Is a Target – Music Is Essential to the Palestinian Struggle |url=https://novaramedia.com/2022/04/13/of-course-lowkey-is-a-target-music-is-essential-to-the-palestinian-struggle/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Novara Media |language=en}}

As of 2025, Boulos is the Community Music Center Coordinator at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.{{Cite web |title=Music Center Coordinator Issa Boulos: Harper College |url=https://www.harpercollege.edu/academics/arts/music/music-faculty/boulos.php |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Harper College}}

Boulos, Issa. "Negotiating the Elements: Palestinian Freedom Songs from 1967 to 1987". Palestinian Music and Song: Expression and Resistance since 1900. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013. pp. 53-68. {{ISBN|9780253011060}}.

Hassan, Scheherazade, et al. Music in Arabia : Perspectives on Heritage, Mobility, and Nation. Edited by Issa Boulos et al., Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2021. {{ISBN|9780253057525}}.

Boulos, Issa. "Musical Diplomacy in Mandate Palestine from 1936 to 1948". Music and Cultural Diplomacy in the Middle East. Edited by Maria M. Rijo Lopes da Cunha et al. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2024. pp. 179-218. {{ISBN|9783031362781}}.

McDonald, David A.; Boulos, Issa. "Palestinian Music". Routledge Handbook on Palestine. London: Routledge, 2024. {{ISBN|9781003031994}}.

• 2019: Bonfire, original instrumental and vocal works for chamber mixed orchestra, Chicago.
• 2011: Little Composers, arranged children songs. Nawa Records, Jerusalem.
• 2010: Sunny and Breezy, original instrumental works. Nawa Records, Jerusalem.
• 2009: Being Peace, original songs. Nawa Records, Chicago.
• 2008: Al-‘Hallaj, eight original songs for mixed Ensemble. Nawa Records, Chicago.{{Citation |title=Al-Hallaj - Issa Boulos |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/al-hallaj-mw0001777705 |access-date=2025-01-26 |publisher=AllMusic |language=en}}
• 2007: Music for the documentary Nice Bombs{{Cite news |last=Catsoulis |first=Jeannette |date=2007-07-11 |title=Back in Iraq, Unearthing Old and New |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/movies/11usam.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250126002947/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/movies/11usam.html |archive-date=2025-01-26 |access-date=2025-01-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
• 2007: Rif, original compositions for Turkish kemence. Nawa Records, Chicago.{{Citation |title=Rif - Issa Boulos, Nermin Kaygusuz |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/rif-mw0001641691 |access-date=2025-01-26 |publisher=AllMusic |language=en}}
• 2003: One World, One Language, original composition for Lingua Musica, Chicago.
• 1989: Side Street, original songs, Jerusalem.
• 1986: Al-‘Ashiq, Palestinian folk.{{fact|date=November 2023}}

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• [http://issaboulos.com/ Issa Boulos]

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Category:1968 births

Category:Composers from Jerusalem

Category:American people of Palestinian descent

Category:American male composers

Category:21st-century American composers

Category:Living people

Category:Palestinian composers

Category:21st-century American male musicians