Jawa Manla (1996) a Syrian oud player. I was born in Aleppo, and I grew up in Damascus, Syria. I started playing music at the age of eleven. I chose the Oud as my instrument because my father used to play it everyday at home when I was young. Gradually, I fell in love with it and now I feel an unlimited feeling of freedom while playing it. When I was six, I started ballet dance lessons.

At the age of eleven I had to join music classes in order to reach a higher level of ballet dancing. I studied music at Sulhi Al Wadi music institute In Damascus and after one year of studying music, the Oud became my passion.

I decided to study music and six years later, I graduated at the same music school as where I have started.

In 2012 I went to Egypt with my family, and there I continued my music study at “Beit El Oud” the Arabic Oud House institute under the supervision of the Iraqi Oud player Naseer Shamma. 

In 2014 I went to Istanbul to receive private lessons by the Turkish oud player Nacati Celik.​

Since June 2015, I have been based in the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, I got to know great Dutch and international musicians whom I had the chance to perform with and who allowed me to learn more and enrich my knowledge about music.

In 2016 I was accepted in Codarts, the conservatory of Rotterdam, where I’m studying for my Bachelor of music at the world music department.