There's a palpable buzz about the youthful Iraqi oud player Khyam Allami: he recently became the first recipient of the BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy scholarship/ mentorship and performed at The Royal Albert Hall as part of this year's Proms. Born in Syria, to Iraqi parents, he moved to London at a young age, initially taking up the violin, before dabbling in rock and then dipping back into his Middle Eastern roots by studying the oud (he's got a degree in Ethnomusicology from London's School of Oriental & African Studies). The Sound Of Disquiet shows off his virtuosity to fine effect.
Tigran Aleksanyan is a master of the Armenian duduk (a woodwind instrument with a double reed frequently described as the saddest instrument on earth) who studied under the great Djivan Gasparyan, before moving to London.
