Peppe Frana is an Italian multi-instrumentalist, scholar, and teacher of oud, maqam theory, and Afghan rebab, with one of the more unusual paths in today’s world music scene. Born in Cava de’ Tirreni, in the Campania region of southern Italy, he moves between the medieval lute of fourteenth-century Italy and the modal traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean, holding both in the same hands without forcing them into artificial dialogue.
What began as a teenage obsession with American rock changed course at the age of twenty, when he was captivated by the modal music in the work of Ross Daly. He went on to study the Turkish oud and other plucked string instruments in Greece and Turkey — especially at the Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Crete — apprenticing under living masters including Yurdal Tokcan, Omer Erdogdular, Murat Aydemir, Daud Khan Sadozai, and Ross Daly himself. This was no appropriation but a sincere, years-long immersion in the makam tradition.
A meeting with Ensemble Micrologus drew him toward European medieval music and the plectrum lute, and he became one of the most appreciated soloists and teachers of the Italian trecento repertoire — a world that, in his hands, shares its roots with Cretan modal music: melodic modes, ornamentation, and the centrality of the single string. Since 2013 he has studied medieval lute at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under Crawford Young. He holds a degree in philosophy from the “L’Orientale” University in Naples, serves as artistic director of Labyrinth Italia, and has collaborated with Ensemble Micrologus, Ensemble Oni Wytars, Christos Barbas, Ross Daly, Vinicio Capossela, Radiodervish, and Angelo Branduardi. His recent recordings include Soma (2023) with the SOMA Trio — Frana on oud and Afghan rubab — Jinn (2022), and A Maze of Melodies (2020).
At the Tapadum Music Academy, Peppe Frana teaches oud, maqam theory, and Afghan rebab online, for every level from beginner to advanced. Drawing on decades of study under master musicians and on a scholar’s understanding of how Eastern and Western modal traditions intertwine, he guides students into the melodic modes, ornamentation, and improvisation at the heart of this music.