India, July 23 -- How did you choose the violin or how did it choose you? Tell us about your training and early years in music.

I feel the violin chose me as much as I chose it. Growing up in a traditional Palestinian village, music was part of my daily life, especially at family gatherings. I started with rhythm first - learning darbuka with Atteya Abdulhalim, one of the masters of the instrument in Galilee. With the help and direction of my uncles Foad and Mowaffak and father Mohammed, I was able to accompany them and learn the basic rhythms, maqams and some oud techniques. The oud was constantly being played around me. That early exposure shaped my music language. After two years, I moved to study Arabic violin, and later, western cla...