Rob Hochschild | July 31, 2013

Ali Amr was one of Berklee's first Palestinian students when he enrolled at the college in 2008. Amr—who is from Ramallah, West Bank and now lives in New York—is a vocalist who accompanies himself on a 72-string lap harp, the qanun. He leads the Ali Amr Experiment, a five-piece group that fuses jazz, Latin, and Arabic music.

Amr's quintent will play the mainstage of the Newport Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 3, 2013. One of the tunes they'll perform is "Najat 1958," a song dedicated to his mother. The track was recorded live at Berklee's Cafe 939