Marcel Khalifé is not only a hugely popular artist throughout the Arab world, he's also a controversial figure. The Lebanese composer and oud player has faced criminal prosecution three times–in 1996, 1999, and 2003–for insulting Islamic values with his composition "I Am Joseph, O Father". The song, based on a poem by Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish, quotes two verses from the Koran–an inclusion deemed blasphemous by some. Kha­lifé was acquitted on each occasion.

An outspoken advocate of human rights, Khalifé was made a UNESCO artist for peace in 2005. The honour didn't prevent him facing fresh accusations this year in Bahrain, where his adaptation for music and dance of the ancient Arabic love poem "Majnoon Laila" was assailed for violating Islamic morals and shari'a law.

"There are always people who say no because they want to close society, and prevent anyone opening it up," says the 57-year-old Khalifé, reached at his Paris apartment and speaking in French. "In many countries my name prevents my music being played. I have problems with authorities because I'm a free man–in my music, my words, my songs, everything. I say what I feel."

The oud, a teardrop-shaped fretless stringed instrument with roots in Middle Eastern antiquity, has been central to the development and the dissemination of classical Arabic music. In the past 30 years no artist has done more than Khalifé to bring it to western audiences.

After teaching for several years at the Conservatory of Music in Beirut, Khalifé felt the need to reach a wider public, and in 1976 he founded the popular Al Mayadine Ensemble. Khalifé brings the quartet to North Vancouver's Centennial Theatre this Saturday (October 6), with his sons Bachar and Rami on percussion and piano, and Peter Herbert on bass.

"All of the pieces on the program will be mine. I'll include excerpts from my latest album, Taqasim , and as always I'll sing verses by Mahmoud Darwish, with whom I've collaborated since we first met in Beirut in the early '70s."

Khalifé's original compositions draw their inspiration from Arabic and Islamic sources. At the same time, he builds bridges to European tradition by, for instance, including piano in the instrumentation of his group.

"I am equally comfortable and knowledgeable about oriental music and western music," he says. "I have never made any distinction between them in terms of value or interest. I was born a [Maronite] Christian–though I'm secular–and as a boy I used to go to church and listen to choral music, but I also heard and loved Islamic recitations of the Koran. I have a double culture. That's a great richness.

"The starting point of my work is an ancient language, that of Lebanese tradition," Khalifé continues. "I try to strike a balance between two trends threatening Arabic music: extreme conservatism, which rejects all forms of change, and extreme modernism, which tries to cut itself off from tradition. My work is generally considered classical Arabic music, but of a new kind."

By: Tony Mantaqr