Alaa Zouiten was born in Casablanca, Morocco. His musical career began there as a master of the oud, the Arabic lute, and led from his training at the Conservatoire National de Marrakech to becoming a sideman in the fusion band “Jbara”. He has played with the band at numerous Moroccan festivals, including the Essaouira Gnaoua Festival, the Grand Festival de Casablanca and the Mawazine in Rabat.

At the University of Erfurt, Germany, he deepened his knowledge of music theory by studying music education and philosophy. During his studies, he collaborated with many jazz musicians and playfully explored the spaces between traditional sounds from the Maghreb, Andalusia and jazz, resulting in the “Alaa Zouiten Ensemble”, which released its debut album “Hada Makan” in 2012. This was followed by further studies in musicology (M.A. Transcultural Music Studies) at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar.

With a scholarship from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Alaa Zouiten worked on his second album “Talking Oud” in 2015. In these compositions, he experiments with the stylistic, technical and aesthetic possibilities of the oud. The result is a fascinating mix of Arabic, Andalusian jazz and rock.

This potential is the basis for Alaa Zouiten’s collaboration with top-class musicians in very different fusion projects in musically cosmopolitan Berlin.

Alaa Zouiten also curates the “Arab Song Jam” and the “Gnaoua Festival” in Berlin.