If ever a musical group traveled the fault lines of the modern world’s conflicts, it’s Le Trio Joubran, which comes to “Mountain Stage” on Sunday, Feb. 24.

The group’s three Palestinian brothers grew up in Nazareth, where they’ve witnessed their share of conflict. They are Christians with Israeli passports, which means they aren’t allowed to play in much of the Arab world.

Yet all three perform on the pear-shaped Arabic oud (pronounced “ood”), considered the Western lute’s predecessor and first seen in the historical record 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq.

“In Israel, they treat me as an Arab,” says the group’s oldest member, 34-year-old Samir Joubran, speaking by phone from Paris. “When I go to Arabic countries, I need to convince the Arabs I am Palestinian.”

The brothers have one powerful thing going for them in bridging these divisions: the emotional, often blazingly virtuosic music they perform around the world on an instrument that is a real family affair for them.

Their father is a renowned oud maker, known throughout the Arabic world. Nowadays, the middle brother, 25-year-old Wissam, constructs the ouds that he, Samir and the youngest of the clan, 23-year-old Adnan, play in concert. (See and hear them at wissamjoubran.com.)

“Since I was 5 years old, I was seeing my father playing the instrument,” Samir says in elliptical yet expressive English.

With a little arat (it tastes a bit like Greek ouzo, Joubran notes) the family would toast the birth of each new oud by his father. “He was making the instrument in the kitchen, my mother was singing, making the food. He puts the first string on the instrument and suddenly you hear the thing, like a baby crying. This is every month!”

So, what does an oud sound like? Maybe a better question is: What does the world’s first popular oud trio sound like? The lightning-fast runs and trills recall Western string players and bands whose fingers seem to bend the rules of space and time — Nickel Creek and Johnny Staats, say.

Yet the 11-stringed oud is fretless and lends itself to sliding notes and highly expressive tones in quieter incantations. The Joubran Trio’s second CD “Majaz” (Arabic for “metaphor”) alternates between jaw-dropping, triple instrumental gallops and ravishing, almost poetic moments, often set to hand percussion by Yousef Hbeisch.

Joubran was inspired to form the trio and take the oud new places upon hearing a guitar trio featuring Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, combining jazz, rock and Flamenco.

He estimates more than 60 percent of their live shows are improvised. With a glance, the brothers change direction, speed and feeling. One will strike off, challenging the other two. Then, they return to conversing quietly via the oud’s strings and in the spaces between the playing.

“It has a lot of emotions — emotions and silence,” Joubran said. “The silence between the music is the music itself, more than the notes.”

Despite the restrictions on some of the band’s movements in the world, the world has noticed. The group was nominated for the 2004 Django d’Or awards, selected at the Womex 2004 and the Strictly Mundial 2005 festivals, played at Carnegie Hall in 2006 and at last year’s Jerusalem Festival.

Samir has not escaped the conflict back home. His family’s house was bombed twice — the target was a neighbor’s home. He had a response, the best one he can make in this world, he said. “All my reaction is, is to do a concert.”