In March 2000, while being in Jordan, \ Kamal read that Pat Metheny trio was coming over to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel -just next doors to Jordan- on the 12th and 13th of April same year. he tried all ways available to contact Pat before his arrival so that they could probably meet. And finally the contact was established, with astonishing luck, through some email address...Pat   replied immediately the next day, and so generously invited Kamal to be his guest to attend one of the two shows in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately there was a "no reason visa rejection" from the Israeli embassy in Amman, which made it impossible to travel there and meet Pat. But since then a friendship was born between Kamal and his hero. A thing that allowed both exchange thoughts through the virtual world. Many serious meditations took place about music, buisness, politics of the the Middle East and the world in general, as well as overviewing the whole human situation on the planet and how artists have a role to bring more positive atmosphers to it. The most important and inspiring was Pat's continous advice and his feedback on Kamal's first album after reeiving the first demos (finally after they got lost -or stolen-  in the postal services when first time sent)....

"..finally, i got your record (intact this time!). i really enjoyed hearing you after being in touch with you. you sound really good! and i also looked on the webcast that you sent me of you playing with the other guitar player which i also enjoyed hearing. maybe someday we will have a chance to sit down with two guitars ourselves - i would be happy to share some ideas about music and guitar with you..."

www.patmethenygroup.com

Also that was a struggle to meet him, until a chance took place just after his last concert of the first Remember Shakti tour in July 1999. John was surprised from Kamal's courage to ask him to play together once on stage, but was in other words pleased to ask him for a copy of his musical work!. 

He then introduced him to his manager Christian Pegand, who was sent all the necessary material later on. In that personal meeting a moment of magic occurred when John took kamal's hand encouraging him so warmly to work harder saying "Go ahead, and work well...music is everything!"                

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Kamal had the great honor to be selected to play along one of the worlds most talented and dedicated guitarists, Stanley Jordan. The show took place at the closing of the second annual Abu Dhabi Jazz Festival 2005, where Kamal played the oud along with Stanley on the guitar, performing two of the great standards by Carlos Jobim - How Insensitive and Wave. Stanley was so impressed with Kamal ability both as Arabic musician, and Oud player to express his musical ideas and emotions through those two songs with such musicianship and high  level, although he felt at some points the deep melancholic sounds coming from Kamal's oud - as Stanley expressed later - which is a character of any Arabic artist living all the sufferings of the Middle East region. They were joined by Anne Ducros, Manu le Prince, Carlos Werneck, William Lecompte, and Christophe Bras.

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Very briefly met throughdiner, at the 2005 Dubai International Jazz Festival..

Kamal is a big fan of Mike's music.

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Knowing they were coming to Jordan, Kamal wrote to Francisco introducing himself. The night they arrived, Kamal asked Francisco if they could jam after the show, but surprisingly Francisco asked Kamal if he had his guitar with him! and that was it, he actually joined the group on stage in some moments of the most magical ones kamal ever had within a band.

"Playing next to Jorge Pardo, a flutist with no limits, is just magic" Kamal says!! Jorge, having liked Kamal's presence there with the group, he asked him to come to the next performance the following day. There he introduced Kamal to the public as if he had been a main part of the group, and they played in a way where the audience highly appreciated Kamal’s integration with such famous artists.

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meeting took place during Johnny's visit to Jordan in November 2000, where both artists exchanged their ideas about improvisation - Johnny being that hero of the great bebop improviser’s generation, and Kamal being a young innovator of the contemporary music generation.

During their tour in Africa and the Near East in summer 2001, they had the chance to give a jazz workshop along with Kamal at the national music conservatory of Amman

And so Kamal is considered to be the first Jordanian Jazz artist to have seriously introduced Jazz in Jordan. He established since the beginning of 2000 many small groups from local talents, and trained them to play Jazz standards and other modern pieces as well as original ones. Of all those groups, Kamal now plays together with those young musicians who showed serious work, and who have a real will to contribute to the progress of the musical scene in Jordan, and export there talents abroad.

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