By David Steinberg

To people in the Middle East, Marcel Khalife is their Bob Dylan.

"He's our hero for all time for music," Albuquerque oud player Rahim Alhaj said of Khalife.

"He gives the voiceless a voice in politics. He makes poetry more accessible to people. He chooses Arabic poetry and composes music to it He's always singing."

Though the Lebanese-born Khalife is a world-famous oud player -- it's a lutelike instrument -- he is known more in the Middle East for his songs. And the lyrics are about politics and current events that attract fans to his music.

Khalife, a UNESCO Artist for Peace, and his Al Mayadine Quartet will be in concert Tuesday, Oct. 30, at the KiMo Theatre. The Albuquerque concert is one stop on a 25-concert tour of North America.

In an e-mail, Khalife said he went into exile in Paris not because of any threats or condemnation of him, but "out of disgust with the political sectarian arrangements that were imposed on Lebanon after the end of the civil war. 

"The centers of power in Lebanon have reinstated the same sectarian system that have caused the civil war, rather than move towards reform and the abolishment of this outdated and decrepit political system."

However, he said, the verbal attacks against him have come mainly from people in positions of power, whether political or institutional power in the Arab world, but also in the United States.

Khalife said in the e-mail that he isn't bothered if people disagree with the political intent of his music.

"It actually opens the doors for free discussion, which ultimately enriches us all with new ideas that would emerge from these discussions," he said.

"I am not a threat to anyone. ... I support a just peace in the Middle East that gives the Palestinian people their inalienable rights to self-determination and statehood."

Khalife's press material said that in the small Middle Eastem country of Bahrain, Muslim fundamentalists in the parliament denounced the dance element of a Khalife piece based on a love story. And another Khalife work was banned from Tunisia because he signed a petition protesting curbs on freedom of expression and human rights in that country.

Regarding those two attacks on his art, Khalife said, "It is not only Muslim fundamentalists that are restricting artistic expression. This phenomenon is occurring in both Eastem and Westem societies alike, even if it was to varying degrees."

His new album, "Taqasim," focuses on the subtleties of the sound of the oud.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30

WHERE: KiMo Theatre, Fifth and Central NW

HOW MUCH: $25, $35 and $50 in advance at the KiMo box office, at Ticketmaster outlets in Smith's supermarkets, online at vi/ww.ticketmaster.com or by calling 883-7800 or at the door.