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Yair Dalal, composer, violinist and oud player, is probably the most prolific Israeli ethnic musician today, with global recognition (WOMAD appearances from Seattle to Sydney).
Over the last decade Dalal has put out nine albums, covering a vast and varied cultural territory. Much of his output reflects the strong affinity he has for the desert and its inhabitants. Dalal’s family came to Israel from Baghdad, and he has included much Iraqi material in his work. Whether working on his own, or with his Alol ensemble, Dalal creates new Middle Eastern music by interweaving the traditions of Iraqi and Jewish-Arabic music with a range of influences originating from diverse cultural contexts ranging from the Balkans to India. His evocative compositions have a unique and colorful sound, and his musicianship is truly independent of time or trends.

Dalal’s work is enhanced by the polished skills of his colleagues in the Alol ensemble, who bring to the music their different ethnic backgrounds, playing instruments from the Middle East and Asia – including tabla, sitar, flute, clarinet, lyre and saz as well as numerous Arabic percussion instruments – and invoking Iraqi, Moroccan, Persian and even Bedouin singing styles.
Yair Dalal performs different repertoires, including classical Jewish-Arabic music and material that draws on Babylonian traditions. He is one of only a handful of artists who preserve and sustain the Babylonian musical heritage, now that the wonderful Jewish-Iraqi musicians who emigrated from Iraq to Israel in the 1950s, and from whom Dalal learned much of his craft, have either passed away or are very old. Dalal also uses his extensive array of skills to span musical genres in performing his own compositions rooted in this musical tradition and inspired by the desert. Living in a rich multicultural society such as that of Israel has imbued his art with the musical treasures of numerous cultural heritages.

Over the years he has collaborated with top musicians from all over the globe and from many different disciplines, including celebrated western classical conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Doron Solomon with the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, Jordi Savall with Hesperion XXI, L.Shankar, Hamza el Din, Michel Bismuth, Ken Zuckerman, Armand Aamar, Shlomo Mintz, Cihat Askin, Maurice el Medioni, Mustafa Raza, Ensemble Kaboul, Adel Salameh, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Kamerata Orchestra and more. He participates and lectures in the Keshet Eilon violin workshops, the International Society for Music Education (ISME), the European Network for Traditional Music and Dance, the Jerusalem Oud Festival and the Mendocino Middle East Music Camp (USA), and is an initiator of the Mediterranean Musical Dialogue in Israel.
One of Yair Dalal’s most uplifting collaborations takes place at WOMAD festivals around the globe where he brings together on a single stage great artists from all over the world and directs the All Stars Gala Concert.
Yair Dalal is a peace activist in every sense of the word.

In addition to his musical endeavours he devotes much time and energy to helping to remove ideological barriers between persons and musicians from different cultures, and in particular between Jews and Arabs. He collaborates with Palestinian musicians, and has initiated and formed many peace projects such as the Shalom Salaam concert in 1994, and performed at the Nobel Peace Prize gala concert in Oslo in 1994. In 2003 he was nominated for the BBC Awards for World Music.