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I3zif’s founder, Bisher Abu Taleb, has been playing guitar since he was 15. During college, he joined Jordanian oriental band RUM Group as a guitarist and vocailist and toured with them across many different countries. After graduating however, he drifted away from music and focused on his career occupying several jobs in IT, media and advertising. “I couldn’t give time to music anymore. In this part of the world it’s very difficult. You’d have to play with 30 different bands to make enough money.”

“I wasn’t happy,” he continued, so he decided to use his experience in media and IT to launch I3zif, the first website in the Arab world offering video music lessons.

I3zif currently provides music lessons for Guitar, Oud and Goblet Drum (Tablah), and will be adding piano in two week’s time. What makes I3zif unique among hundreds of online music schools though is that it is the only site that provides lessons for traditional local instruments.

“We also use Arabic songs in our lessons,” he continued, “music curricula in the Arab world come from the west so we’re taught with foreign songs; we decided to use songs that people can relate to instead.”

And while the site will focus on 4 instruments for the time being, Bisher is keen on adding more instructors for each, allowing users to pick one that suits them. “After doing some research we found out that a high number of people who opt out of music schools cite not liking the teacher as the main reason for quitting.”

The website has attracted over 20000 unique visitors since launch, averaging around 1000+ per day.

Oud class now in session...