"Mawwal" is often performed through improvisation, usually without restriction by a certain rhythm. It allows the singer to demonstrate his/her vocal ability, while the musicians provide the stimulation with a musical improvisation.
Long established and highly acclaimed on the New England club and festival circuit, MAWWAL performs both original music and original arrangements of traditional Middle Eastern music in a spirited and beautiful trance-inducing acoustic ensemble. Inventive vocal arrangements in English and Arabic weave through a laouto (Greek lute) and violin, augmented by traditional percussion (tabla, dumbek, frame drum, riq) in what has been called a "new genre" by Progression Magazine.
Mawwal is guitarist/lutist/composer/vocalist Jim Matus, Joe O’Brien (bass), Jill O’Brien (vocals), Mike Keyes (drums),violinist Rohan Gregory