Understanding

Speaking to BBC World Service's Jazzmatazz programme, Abou-Khalil explained how he wants to readdress notions of "world music".

"A lot of the problems people face when you are doing so-called 'world music' is that you get people together who know nothing about each others' culture," he said.

The resulting sound in Abou-Khali's opinion may be "very nice to listen to", he says, "but it doesn't have the architectural texture that you need for an art that could change things."

Selection

Moving away from traditional Arab vocal techniques, Abou-Khali experiments with traditional instruments and diverse musical coordinates.

I basically created an alphabet from which rhythmic words are made

Rabih Abou-Khalil

The resulting avant-garde sound fuses jazz traditions with Arabic instrumental music.

Always keen to explore new musical talent, Abou-Khalil said he finds choosing suitable musicians can take time.

It took almost a year for him to select the group who play on the Cactus of Knowledge album, a process prolonged because he never chooses "musicians according to their instruments".

"I have always chosen them for their musical personalities" he explained.

"I look for them not so much as soloists, but I try to imagine how the whole band would sound."

'Art music'

His ability to direct musicians and create a "shared community", he believes lies in his basic training in classical music.

Detailed marquetry often adorns the oud

He learned to play the oud while growing up in Beirut. In 1978, during Lebanon's civil war, Abou-Khalil studied the classical flute at the Academy of Music in Munich, Germany.

This analytical training, he also believes, helped him to make the musical transition from "folk music" to "art music".

Breaking down the theory behind traditional Arab music and making a conscious move away from creating "exotic" sounds have led Abou-Khalil to experiment with complex rhythms.

"I have a certain rhythmic concept and it's the same one that I have been working on for a while," he explained.

"I basically created an alphabet from which rhythmic words are made. From that I can create tension and release. These are the basis of all art."