NY Oud Festival Day 8 | Gabe Lavin, Ameer Armaly, Brian Prunka

The New York Oud Festival is a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that displays the oud and its versatility as it exists in New York's diverse musical culture. The NYOF celebrates the oud and its wide-ranging influence on global music culture, showcasing artists from a multitude of traditions and contexts, and demonstrating why the oud continues to be one of the world's most beloved instruments. 
www.newyorkoudfestival.com

NY Oud Festival Day 8 | Gabe Lavin, Ameer Armaly, Brian Prunka
7:30pm (7pm doors)
Friday May 30th 2025
Jalopy Theatre - 315 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
$30 advance ($35 door)

Day 8 of the festival will feature sets by oudists Gabe Lavin, Ameer Armaly, and Brian Prunka.  Seating is limited and first-come first-serve.

Born in South Carolina, Ameer Armaly was exposed to the oud and Arabic music in general from an early age through his uncle who played the oud.  He went on to study under Simon and Najib Shaheen. Ameer performs as an instrumentalist with a variety of artists and leads an Arabic music ensemble which performs regularly around the New York area, cultivating local talent and reviving the great Arabic instrumental and vocal music of the twentieth century. His performance will feature Ayman Asfour on violin and Zafer Tawil on percussion.

Gabriel Lavin, (Ph.D.) is a Brooklyn-based multi instrumentalist and scholar. He received a degree in oud performance from Beit Al Oud, Abu Dhabi (2024) and has performed as a solo artist and with ensembles across the United States, Oman, Egypt, Kuwait, the UAE, and elsewhere.  Accompanied by Alber Baseel on percussion, his performance will feature various oud playing styles and musical genres from the Arab world and Turkey.

Dubbed "one of New York’s most eclectic, interesting oudists,” oud player Brian Prunka’s compositions have been described as “mesmerizing, intricate, anthemic” (NY Music Daily). He began his musical journey playing jazz guitar in New Orleans before falling in love with the Arabic oud.  Since 2003 he has been deeply involved with New York’s Arabic music scene, performing with Simon Shaheen, Takht al-Nagham, Zikrayat, the NY Arabic orchestra, and the Bil Afrah Project, as well as his original music projects, including his jazz-Arabic project Nashaz and most recently a series of works for oud and string quartet.  For this performance, he will be performing with Gideon Forbes (nay, saxophone, clarinet), Eric Allen (cello) and Alber Baseel (percussion). The music will explore the range of Prunka’s compositions, drawing on influences from maqam, jazz, classical music and more.