For the third consecutive summer, Old World Market is hosting a free, outdoor European café-style chamber concert on Saturday.

"Global Expressions" features a South Shore Orchestra woodwind quintet led by Troy Webdell. Egyptian composer/performer Halim El-Dabh will perform his works on guitar and tabla drums. The musicians will present the "sidewalk chamber concert" in front of the Valparaiso cheese and wine store.

A professor emeritus of African Ethnomusicology at Kent State University, El-Dabh has composed operas, ballets, symphonies, chamber and electronic music inspired by cultures in Africa and Asia.

"What I love about music," El-Dabh says in an interview on his Web site, is how "it connects me with the universe ... it makes me in contact with every human being ... gives me contact with who I am...Music is not just what your ear can hear, music is what your body can also experience." He considers sound "a fantastic tool of being liberated, actually finding yourself."

El-Dabh composed the music for the "Sound and Light" show performed nightly at the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. The show recounts the stories of the Sphinx and the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.

El-Dabh's concerto "Invisible Bridge" (2007), commemorating the Underground Railroad, was premiered by the Dayton Symphony Orchestra and African-American cellist Karen R. Patterson.

His "Symphony for 1000 Drums," brought to life by 1,000 drums in Cleveland (2006) and in Fort Collins, Colorado (2008), invokes the goddesses of ancient Egypt and Yorubaland.

He has produced nine CDs representing a range of styles over his lifetime. He turned 88 on March 4.

His music is nothing short of extraordinary. To listen to samples and view a couple of video clips, go to HALIMELDABH.COM.