The Israel Oud Festival was founded in the year 2000 in Jerusalem, by producer and musical director Eli Grunfeld.

In 2003 Grunfeld initiated an extension of the festival in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

, at the 'Tzavta' theatre. The Tel Aviv Oud Festival takes place every year in August.

The Oud

Oud

The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...

 festival of Tel Aviv have acquired great acclaim in local culture and every year, have the top musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

s in the country and the genre performing. Tel Aviv's Oud Festivals, each year, have the best Oud players playing original music, along with Mediterranean classics, debut performances and the festival gives a stage to many special projects revolving around the instrument.

Among the prominent Oud soloists that took place in the oud festival of Tel Aviv: Ara Dinkjian, considered one of the premier Oud players in the world, Yair Dalal

Yair Dalal

Yair Dalal is an Israeli musician of Iraqi-Jewish descent.His main instruments are the oud and the violin, and he also sings as accompaniment. He composes his own music and draws on Arab and Jewish traditions, as well as European classical music and Indian music...

, Nizar Rduan, Darvish Darvish (who won first place the Cairo Oud competition), Wasim Ouda (Second place at the competition), Amir Shahassar, Yoel Ben-Simchon, Ziad Habib, Yaniv Taichman, Alon Ammano Campino, Said Ajami and many more.
Among the leading singers and performing artists who have taken part in the Tel Aviv festival special productions are: Zehava Ben

Zehava Ben

Zehava Ben is one of the most popular Israeli female vocalists in the Mizrahi music genre; the Middle Eastern-style of singing rising from Israel's Mizrahi Jewish population, dominating Israeli music in the 1990s and popular ever since.-Early life:...

, Lubna Salame, Galit Giat, Shlomo Bar

Shlomo Bar

Shlomo Bar is an Israeli musician, composer, and social activist. He is a pioneer of ethnic music in Israel.- Biography :Born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1943, Bar emigrated to Israel a few years later. He learnt how to play the darbuka and other ethnic percussion instruments, performing in various small...

, Sahara City, Lea Shabat, Haim Ankri, Gil Ron Shema, Kobi Oz

Kobi Oz

Kobi Oz is the lead singer of Israeli group Teapacks.-Biography:Yaakov Oz was born in Sderot to Tunisian Jewish parents. He began playing music and composing at the age of 15...

and more.