DAMMAM: Top musicians and composers from the Middle East and Europe are to take part in a Saudi festival dedicated to celebrating the important contribution of the oud to jazz music, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The Kingdom’s Music Commission will host the first Arabic Jazz Music Festival at the Dhahran Expo in Dammam over two days starting Friday. German Lebanese oud master Rabih Abou Khalil, a 10-time German Jazz Music Award winner, and Bands Across Borders, are among the event’s biggest names. A jazz orchestra comprised of leading vocalists, instrumentalists, jazz, pop, and rock musicians from the Arab world and Europe will also perform some of the region’s best-known Arabic tunes. In addition, the festival will feature Egyptian oud master Hazem Shaheen in his new jazz formation, as well as Mohamed Abozekry, at 14 years old the youngest officially recognized Arab oud master. The lineup will be supported by rising Saudi music stars such as Bahraini Saudi fusion band Majaz, Saudi band Al Farabi, and Dammam jazz fusion band, Mosaic. In organizing the festival at Dhahran Expo, one of the largest exhibition companies in Saudi Arabia, the Music Commission aims to promote national and Arab talent and participation in such events.