As part of our international cultural exchange, the Japan Foundation promotes performing arts events in Japan, featuring the arts and artists yet to be known here. We began the Mediterranean Arab Music Series in 2004, to introduce the diverse musical arts of Arab countries and their surrounding regions to a Japanese audience.
The series kicked off with concerts featuring Nasser Shamma, the distinguished Iraqi oud player, which was highly acclaimed throughout the tour. This year, as the second part of our series, we are inviting a star of Arab Music, Lotfi Bouchnak, from Tunisia, the Mediterranean coastal country.

A singer, a lutanist and a composer: LOTFI BOUCHNAK was born in Tunis into a family of Bosniak background (as his name indicates it). He was, from his early childhood, fond of music and particularly of the Arab diva OUM KALTHOUM whose rich musical repertoire had a significant influence on his music style. He began gradually attending Sufi circles, and received his musical education from leading Tunisian composers such as the maestro Mohamed AZOUZE, Ali SRITI and so on. According to music experts, his impressive vocal performances have helped him master several types of music: not only the Manouva, the Tunisian traditional music, but also Tunisian local folk songs, the music of Andalusia, the Middle- East area, Europe and Asia.

He started his career as a composer in the mid 1980s, and his popularity started to extend across the Arab world. His musical performances at the Arab Music Festival of Cairo were a landmark in the history of Arab music, through which he won over music loving audiences in all the Arab world. Nowadays, he plays all over the world including Arabic countries and Europe, where he has received several awards. People call him "The Ambassador of Arab Music", because of his wide association with many musical leaders.

So far he has produced 15 albums that were released and distributed from Tunis, Cairo, Jeddah, Paris, Rome, and London.