Album Notes

Born in Casablanca, Morocco to a musical family, Kadiri grew up listening to the giants of Arabic music, including Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, Oum Kalsoum, Laila Mourad, and Abdel Halim Hafez. He counts among his influences oud greats Simon Shaheen, Said Chraibi, and especially the great Moroccan composer and performer Al Oustaz Ahmed Al Bidaoui. In his late teens, Kadiri was introduced to jazz when he happened to see the movie "The Benny Goodman Story." The experience turned him on to Ella Fitzgerald, Al Di Meola, and, his idol, Chick Corea.

Today Kadiri performs at local venues in the Philadelphia area as a solo act as well as with M'oudswing, a group he co-founded to explore both Arabic music and jazz. Today Kadiri performs at local venues in the Philadelphia area as a solo act as well as with M'oudswing, a group he co-founded to explore both Arabic music and jazz. He also performs his compositions with the Roxanne Butterfly tap dance group and Djellabah Groove. Together they performed at the world music festival "Globalfest 2006" in New York City.

For a different side of Kadiri, check out his first CD "Shades of Brown," a soulful, entertaining piece with a serious, yet positive, message about friendship and world peace.