It is hard to imagine what it means not to have a home. For Maneli Jamal, however, this feeling had been a reality for a long time. He fled from Iran with his family at a very age. By the time he was 18 years old, he had moved almost 20 times within four different countries (Belarus, Germany, USA and Canada). He never had a real home during this turbulent period of his life.

The many experiences, the different cultures, the constantly changing environments inspire a great influence on the music of Maneli Jamal to this day. Over the years, he has absorbed all the influences and bundled in a unique guitar style. Maneli Jamal combines modern fingerpicking with traditional guitar playing, bringing oriental influences together with Western music. Maneli Jamal is a virtuoso on his instrument, mastering rhythm and melody at a breathtaking speed and with thoughtful musicality.

Maneli Jamal combines modern fingerpicking with traditional guitar play

His musical skills are reflected not least by the numerous international prizes which Maneli Jamal has already won – his last winning was at the Harborfront Center’s Soundclash Music Award in 2014. In our digital times, Maneli has over 5 million Youtube subscribers, along with 30,000 Facebook and 20,000 Instagram followers.

Meanwhile, Maneli has found a home in Canada, including a citizenship. If he is on the road today, then it is probably due to a musical reason. Since 2009, Maneli Jamal has traveled through 12 countries in five continents, released three albums, and since 2015 he has been working on his own signature model with the Australian guitar builders of Cole Clark in Melbourne.
Last August of 2016, Maneli Jamal released his second album “The Mardon Movement”. The Arabic is unmistakable, but so are the bluesy American influences. We met Maneli in August 2016 in Germany for a Cole Clark in Session. Watch him playing here. For more information about the album and tour dates, they can be found on Manelis website: www.manelijamal.com