Armand Amar

Composer Armand Amar was brought up in Morocco in the 1950s and many of his compositions contain references and influences from traditional middle eastern music. He started his musical career by playing percussion, mainly the congas but also the tabla and the zarb and his experience as a percussionist gave him a valuable insight into the ways rhythm can be employed to create atmosphere within a soundtrack. During the 1970s Amar met the well known South African choreographer Peter Goss and from here he developed his love of contemporary dance, an interest which eventually led him to compose a number ballets.

In the 1990s, along with business partners Alain Weber and Peter Gabriel, he formed the record label Long Distance specialising in world music. Amar's composing talents have led him to be involved in a diverse range of film projects which have focused on themes such as the environment on 'Earth from Above' in 2007 and 'Home' in 2009 and religion on 'Amen' in 2002 and 'Live and Become' in 2005.