Jihad Akl was born in 1968 in Beirut, Lebanon. His father, Ahmad Said Akl, was a musician and a teacher. Jihad spent his childhood fascinated by the violin, which he learned from his father. In 1974, at the age of 6, Jihad Akl won an estimation prize in a musical recital, from the occidental conservatory for the “Tournament of the Genius Kids”. From then on, his father endeavored to teach Jihad music and playing the violin in the most difficult circumstances of the civil war in Lebanon.