Camellia Boutros

Camellia Boutros is a Palestinian/Lebanese American composer and multi-instrumentalist based in San Francisco. She performs on trumpet, oud, and electric bass with a diverse array of Arab, Balkan, and Mexican music groups, and developed a fretless 12-string electric guitar as a vehicle for composing her own brand of Arab experimental rock. Naming her instrument the “electric oud-guitar,” Camellia writes music rooted in both Arabic Maqam and the Bay Area sound, which reflects her own experience growing up between California and the Levant. Her music and lyrics defy genre definition, forming an experimental blend of rock, Arabic folk, jazz, and brass music, all of which can be found on her first solo album, Refuge.