The world's attention has been on Syria for weeks; a country mired in chaos, a geopolitical conundrum, a complicated moral dilemma. But what about Syria's musical landscape? This week's Rhythm Planet ...

Singer Abdallah Rahhal stepped on stage as the oud player picked out an intriguing tune. The musicians had met only moments before. Abdallah lifted his voice to meet the oud’s haunting semitones and ...

A Syrian-American musician brings awareness to the civil war in his family’s homeland. Bassel Almadani is a Syrian-American musician who is using his platform to bring awareness to the civil war and ...

Staccato lyrics may be no match for Bashar al-Assads military firepower, but two brothers, who fled to Paris from Syria and perform as "Refugees of Rap", find sniping with words a liberating ...

The Syrian soccer player Abdel Basset Al-Sarout became the poster child for the Syrian revolution with his iconic protest anthems. In death, he has become its saint. But he didn't do it alone. NPR's ...

Bassel Almadani, the singer who fronts the Chicago-based soul/funk/R&B group Bassel & the Supernaturals, has deep ties to Northeast Ohio. Born and raised in Kent, he blossomed as a songwriter here, ...

The music was provided by an oud: The base was a cooking pot, the neck created out of wood from a box of fruit, the strings made from sock threads and the pegs from fruit stems. The musicians were ...