Waed Bouhassoun comes from southern Syria and she was born in a village near Sweida into a family of music lovers: her father gave her a small oud when she was only seven years old. She comes from the same region as the singers Asmahan and Farid El Atrache, and was exposed very early to forms of music other than those of her native country because, as a child, her parents took her to live for two years in Yemen where she discovered the local music at women’s gatherings. She continued to study her instrument and then entered the Damascus Conservatory, which was strongly influenced by Western music at the time. She drew on these diverse influences to create her personal style, while remaining faithful to the musical spirit of her country. As of her first appearances in Aleppo, her talent was immediately recognized in the milieu: she performed in Paris, at the Maison des Cultures du Monde and then at the Arab World Institute in March 2006 where she enjoyed great success. Since then she has been performing throughout the Arab world, in Europe, in South Korea, in Canada.
In 2009, she recorded her first CD, The Voice of Love in the collection of the Arab World Institute, and in the same year she received the "Coup de Cœur" prize from the Académie Charles Cros. In 2014 she recorded her second CD in solo with Buda Musique in Paris, The Soul of the Lute, for voice and oud, on which she performs her own compositions to poems of Adonis, Al Hallaj, Qays Ibn al-Mulawwah (called the Madman of Layla), Ibn Zaydun, Sohrawardi and Ibn Arabi. This album also won a "Coup de cœur" award from the Académie Charles Cros in 2015. September 2016 saw the release of "The Voice of Passion", her third CD, with Buda Musique. March 2019, saw the release of “Safar: rediscovered souls”, her fourth CD, with Buda Musique.
In addition to her solo career, Waed Bouhassoun works regularly with Jordi Savall and his ensemble Hespérion XXI, both for concerts and for the recording of CDs. In 2013 she took part in the recording of the CD "Orient Occident II – Tribute to Syria" and in 2016, the two CDs "Ramon Llull" and "Granada".
Again with Jordi Savall, she contributes actively to the implementation of his project Europe Creative Orpheus XXI – Music for Life and Dignity, for the transmission of musical heritage to the new generations, and she leads music workshops for refugees and displaced children so that they are not cut off from their cultural roots.
In March 2018, she was given the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.
Waed Bouhassoun is currently living in Paris and working on her thesis in ethnomusicology.
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Waed Bouhassoun (c) Herve Pouyfourcat
