Jan Wouter
About
Jan Wouter Oostenrijk (JWO) is an international artist known for navigating the crosscurrents between Middle Eastern and North African music, jazz, blues, rock. Originally trained as a western guitar player in the traditions of jazz, pop and classical music he obtained a masters degree in Middle Eastern improvisation where he did research on melodic maqam behaviour. He has toured with his band in Europe, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Sudan and Uzbekistan. He completed his professional jazz guitar studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory (1994) and has been running his own guitarschool there for more than 25 years. He received the “Gouden Notenkraker” award for his contribution to the Dutch live music with Moroccan formation Rai-land and a Radioindy “Golden Artist” award in the USA for his album Maghreb Jazz guitar. His guitar course Desert Blues on Truefire Educators USA. Jan Wouter connects the East and the West and plays a leading role in the development of the quarter-tone guitar in relation to Arabic music culture. He teaches Arabic music and crossovers at the Artez Conservatory (NL). In 2026 his Maqam Guitar Method appeared at ArtEz press guided by the Maqam Guitar community site https://maqamguitar.com/blog/
